Washburn Soccer sought to extend their three-win streak at home Friday, Oct. 4 when they hosted Northwest Missouri State University for their eighth match of the season, but fell to 5-3.

The game started off slow. Both teams decided to prioritize the defensive side of the ball and neither team came out attacking early on. The first opportunity of the game came at 37 minutes left in the first half. A dangerous shot from NWM forced WU’s freshman goalkeeper Raegan Wells to make a difficult save. The Bearcats dominated the first half, and had more possessions, which made it difficult for WU’s strikers to find any openings in the offense. The first half ended 0-0 with NWM having two shots on goal while the Ichabods had none.

The second half started agitated as the Bearcats looked to capitalize on their opportunities and take the zeroes off the scoreboard. In the first ten minutes, they had a dangerous 25-yard shot hit the crossbar. Moments after, another one hit the left post of the goal defended by Wells. It was only after those near scoring opportunities by NWM that WU’s offense finally clicked and they took control of the match. An impressive amount of seven shots on goal were fired by the bods in the last 25 minutes of the second half. Junior Middle Fielder Tera Lynch had a couple of longshots that were stopped by NWM’s goalkeeper. The best chance the bods had during the game was at 22 minutes remaining, when WU’s Senior Forward Olivia Grasso kicked a 22-yard bomb that hit the crossbar and the post of NWM’ goal.

The Bods were unable to capitalize on the large number of shots on target in the second half. The score remained 0-0 and the match went to overtime. Despite the cold weather, WU came out fast and energized for OT. They were able to hold the ball in the offensive side of the field early on. With three minutes left in OT, a Bearcats counter attack led to a score by freshman forward Kaitlyn Case. She was on the left side where she beat Wells inside the box. After being solid the whole game and making important saves, Washburn’s Goalkeeper Raegan Wells commented on the team defensive performance of the night.

“We came in and started off really slow, not our best game. But then in the second half we stepped it up and played well but unfortunately we got beat.” said Wells. That was only the fourth goal Wells conceded all season. A little frustrated after the result, Head Coach Davy Phillips weighed in on the performance of his team.

“I think the way we started the game wasn’t the best, we let Northwest grow in confidence. I think if we just stayed in attack mode and got after them a little bit more we could have earned more of a hole in the game.” said Phillips. 

The Ichabods Soccer team move to 5-3 for the season. They host Missouri Western Sunday Oct. 6.

Edited by Adam White, Jason Morrison, Jackson Woods