On a rainy day in Waukesha, the Vikings took the pitch looking to come out of their match against Carroll University 3-1 in conference. The Carroll women’s soccer program is the defending Midwest Conference champion, and they were determined to keep their conference winning-streak alive. The Lady Vikings came out facing high pressure from the Pioneers but were able to hold them off with the aid of junior goalkeeper Lindsay Ahlen, who posted nine saves during the course of the match.
The Vikings were put on their heels early but were able to hold on and build some counter attacks. None were successful however, as the Pioneer backline was able to foil the Viking attackers once they entered the defensive third of the field.
In the 30th minute of the match, a corner kick was awarded to Carroll. The ball was served in, then quickly finished into the back of the net. Not one minute later, the Pioneers were able to find a hole in the Viking defense and exploited the goal line, then played the ball back to a trailing attacker who slotted the ball near post, past Ahlen. The Vikings were able to keep Carroll from scoring for the rest of the match but were not able to produce any goals of their own.
Sophomores Liz Seeley and Sarah Ehlinger both had a shot on goal, but the Pioneer goalkeeper thwarted their attempts.
At full time, the score stood at 2-0 in favor of the Carroll Pioneers. Senior co-captain Jackie Bean commented after the game, “We played fairly well against Carroll, but one thing we need to focus on this week with Grinnell and Knox coming up is taking advantage of our scoring opportunities. It’s something we’ve been struggling with all season and if we’re able to do that we should come out 2-0 this weekend.” We wish the Vikes luck in their conference games this weekend.