ODESSA, Texas - The McMurry University women's soccer team used a quick first half goal and two second half tallies to defeat UT-Permian Basin, 3-1, in its first Heartland Conference contest in program history on Tuesday evening.
The War Hawks struck first just 10 seconds into the contest as the opening kick-off went to
Aleria Luna who then played the ball over the UTPB defenders' heads, right to the feet of
Savannah Whitaker, who beat all the defenders and the keeper to shock the home crowd and put the War Hawks up 1-0.
“It was a designed play,” said head coach
Alan Riches. “It was something that the players had talked about before the game and the girls executed it perfectly. Aleria made a great pass and Savannah stayed calm and made the play happen to give us the lead.”
About 30 minutes later, the Falcons came back with a goal of their own as Alyssa Eich found Kendeal Stark for a header goal to tie the contest at 1-1. The teams would go into the half with the same score.
In the second half of play, it was all War Hawks, as McMurry out shot UTPB and scored its second goal of the game in the 55
th minute. This time, Luna was on the scoring end of a goal as she took a rebound from a blocked shot to beat the keeper for her first collegiate goal. The War Hawks would then add some breathing room as Holliday Williams assisted on Whitaker's second goal of the day to make the score 3-1, giving McMurry their first win of the season.
For the War Hawks, Whitaker notched four points for the game (2 goals) while Luna added 3 points (one goal/one assist) and Holliday added an assist. Keeper
Chanel Felder also had a great day on the field as she made ten saves between the pipes to pick up her first win in a McM uniform.
“This win today was unquestionably the biggest win in the history of our program,” remarked Riches of the victory. “This win really exemplifies what the school wanted out of our move to Division II. It was just a great win for our program, and even though we have a ways to go to be where we want to be, we feel that this is an excellent starting point.”
