MANKATO, Minn. - After falling behind 2-0 and later 3-1 on Saturday afternoon, the Bethany women's soccer team fell short of a comeback, dropping a 3-2 contest to UW-River Falls. With the loss the Vikings will move to 1-1 on the season.
"We couldn't be more proud of the girls for leaving everything on the pitch," said Head Coach Emma Morris. "They adjusted to the tempo of the game and how it was being played and did a fantastic job of just moving forward through everything. After a slow start, we were able to control large portions of the game and gave ourselves a lot of good attacking opportunities. When we brought our substitutes on, they really elevated the game and gave us momentum to have a chance to win. Against a strong attacking team like that, we were really pleased with how well Brooke did on leading the defensive unit and in net."
The early portion of the game was controlled heavily by the Falcons as they were firing a handful of shots on Bethany keeper Brooke Wolanin who held strong. River Falls would break through in the 19th minute though as they were able to connect for the first goal of the game. The two teams would then play scoreless the rest of the first half with River Falls holding a 1-0 lead into the break.
In half number two, River Falls would be the beneficiary of a penalty in the box just eight minutes in that gave them a penalty kick. Wolanin dove the right direction in net, but a well placed kicked was tucked in the left corner to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead. Olaitz Azkue subbed on shortly after for the Vikings and it paid off, as Asia Jota played a free kick in front of the net and Azkue was able to head it into the top right corner to cut the lead in half at the 64th minute. River Falls would respond though in the 76th minute, after a corner kick popped was played in and bounced around a few times and found the foot of a Falcon who put it in the back of the net to give them a 3-1 lead. After a red card was handed out to a River Falls player with nine minutes to play, the Vikings went on the all-out offensive and were able to score with under three minutes left. Elena Luján Rubio played a cross in that Juana Quevedo would send into the right side of the net to cut the deficit to 3-2. The Vikings had a few chances late but couldn't pull off the comeback victory and fell to the Falcons.
Wolanin had a strong game in net, making 11 saves for the Vikings while allowing three goals.
The Vikings are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Gustavus for a 4 p.m. contest.
