Last Saturday was a great day for women’s soccer, but it was an unforgettable one for senior forward Mallory Koula.
During their 6-1 conference match win against Beloit, Lawrence had control throughout the entire game, to say the least. LU scored two quick goals to stake a 2-0 lead just past the 20-minute mark. Then it got a little crazy — historic, actually.
Just after the 26-minute mark, Koula scored on a pass from senior Cadence Peckham, but merely 18 seconds later, Keli Muchowski found Koula with a pass, who scored again. Astonishingly, 24 seconds after the second goal, Muchowski again connected with Koula who scored for a third time.
Three goals in 42 seconds was more than enough to shatter the former record in any NCAA division, male or female, for the fastest three goals scored.
The closest Division I record holder, Florida’s Abby Wambach, who just played in the World Cup final for the U.S., scored three goals in 2:02. Almost impossibly, the game got even better for Koula as she scored a fourth goal to bring her career tally to 56, breaking the all-time Lawrence record previously held by Megan Tiemann, who finished with 55.
For her efforts — and accomplishments — Koula was named the Midwestern Conference player of the week, the fourth time in her career she has been given the distinction. When asked if she was aware of the records she responded, “I knew I needed three [goals] to tie the [school] record, but I had no idea there even [was] a record for the three fastest goals.”
When asked what was going through her head after the final whistle was blown, Koula said, “I was really glad we won but I also just really wanted to shower.”
Evidently, breaking a national record and a school record didn’t get to her head. As for the team, this was a big game for Lawrence. “We went into the game knowing that we needed to win and we definitely didn’t take Beloit lightly,” said Koula. Lawrence certainly took care of business, as they needed to because of some close games that didn’t go Lawrence’s way early in the season. As a result, Lawrence needed to beat Beloit, and is still fighting for the fourth and final spot in the Conference Tournament.
“We just have to focus on winning the rest of our games and hope that things pan out for us in the rest of the Conference,” said Koula. No matter what happens come season’s end, Saturday’s game was a great one for the women’s team and a game Koula will probably never forget.