The Washburn women’s soccer team returned to Yager Stadium this past weekend to play a pair of games. Friday night they defeated Fort Hays State 3-1, while Sunday afternoon was not quite as successful as they dropped a close 2-1 decision.

Friday’s game against Fort Hays State was a tale of two halves in terms of scoring. Neither team scored in the first, but a scoring barrage in the early stages of the second half helped propel the Ichabods to the victory.

Washburn got its first scoring opportunity just over 18 minutes into the game with a corner kick taken by Tera Lynch. Her corner was played by Olivia Grasso, but her shot on the goal was high.

Josie Rimmer had a couple chances to get the Bods on the board, but she had a shot go wide and another shot blocked. In the 36th minute, Mackenzie Heiman thought she had broken the scoreless tie only to see her shot hit the crossbar and stay out of the net.

Fort Hays State looked to mount a late first half score with a shot on goal just before intermission, but Ichabod goalkeeper Whitney Bockover saved the shot and sent the game into the half with a scoreless draw.

Fort Hays State came out firing in the second half with four early shots but couldn’t convert them into goals as three shots were wide and Bockover saved the fourth.

The Bods weathered the storm and then found a rhythm of their own on offense. Mackenzie Heiman opened the scoring for the Bods with a goal in the 59th minute, her second goal of the season.

After the restart, Washburn quickly won the ball back and not even a minute after goal number one, the Ichabods struck again as Ellie Karloff found the back of the net for the first time this season to make the score 2-0 early in the second half.

The two teams proceeded to trade unsuccessful shots for the next 10 minutes until Washburn’s Tera Lynch capitalized and converted a scoring opportunity at the 70-minute mark to push the lead to 3-0. The goal was Lynch’s second of the season.

A yellow card, assessed to the FHSU goalkeeper in the penalty box, created another scoring opportunity, but the Tiger keeper atoned for her own mistake by saving the penalty kick attempt by Ellie Karloff.

Fort Hays State did find the back of the net with less than 10 minutes to play in the game, but it was too little too late as the Ichabods defended the Tiger attacks and ran the clock out for a 3-1 victory.

Sunday the Ichabods played host to the Lopers of Nebraska-Kearney whom they defeated 1-0 back on Sept. 14.

Washburn struggled to repeat that success as they surrendered two goals late in the first half and were unable to climb out of that hole.

The game was controlled early on by the Lopers as they had four corner kicks in a nine-minute time span, but only put one shot on goal that was saved by Bod goalkeeper Whitney Bockover.

Nebraska-Kearney struck first with 17 minutes remaining in the half on a long 20-yard strike to open the scoring. One minute later Tera Lynch attempted to tie the game, but her shot went wide.

The Lopers scored again three minutes later off a nice feed by Kassidy Kirsch and Maddie Love knocked it home and made the score 2-0 which would be the halftime score.

The Bod offense was slow out of the second half gate but gained some steam and put pressure on the UNK goalkeeper as they tried to mount a comeback.

With five minutes left in the game Mattie Miano took a freekick resulting from a foul. Miano played the ball in front of the goal where Cassidy Meadows was able to out jump everyone in the crowd and head the ball home to draw the game within one goal.

Washburn had possession with 20 seconds left and worked the ball within 15 yards of the goal, but the final shot with three seconds remaining curled left and time expired.

In a game that featured more scoring than the last meeting the Bods couldn’t climb out of the early hole created in the first half as they couldn’t get going from the start.

Sophomore midfielder Tera Lynch said, “Kearney didn’t do anything different than the first time we played them. They’ve always been a decent team, they just came to play, and we didn’t.”

The MIAA conference shapes up to be a tight race all year long which is something Lynch and her teammates are well aware of.

“We are now fully aware that every team and every game is going to require our very best to beat them. We can’t come out and not play our A game or we won’t be successful since our conference is so tight,” Lynch said.

Statistically for the Bods, keeper Whitney Bockover recorded five saves. Meadows scored goal number one of her Washburn career. Tera Lynch fired off three shots, with one of those on target. Also putting shots on goal were Josie Rimmer, Olivia Grasso, and Mackenzie Menke.

Washburn will continue conference play on the road next week as they travel to Northwest Missouri State on Friday for a 3 p.m. showdown. They will stay on the road Sunday playing Missouri Western in St. Joseph, MO with a scheduled noon kickoff.