RIVER FALLS, Wis. - The Bethany Lutheran women's soccer team traveled to UW-River Falls on Sunday night and drew with the Falcons with a score of 2-2. The Vikings, who entered the contest 0-7 in program history against UW-RF, moves to 1-0-1 with the result.
"A fantastic result for us tonight to make a bit of team history," said Head Coach Emma Morris. "This was a physical, hard fought game, the statistics certainly don't give you the full picture. It would be hard to single any player out, they were all gritty, determined and gave it everything we could ask. Every player in our program had a massive role to play in that result. We were extremely proud of how quickly we got off the mark and their resilience to see the game through. With a massive week ahead we're looking to keep that momentum going and want to see consistency with performances. They really exemplified what #Familia means to us!"
It didn't take long for Bethany to find their stride offensively in this one. Just over three minutes in,
Riley Ping took the ball nearly the length of the field before passing up the right side to
Mia Saulter, who would fire it back to Ping in the middle who would convert in front of the net for a 1-0 lead. Just four minutes later Saulter would receive a pass entering the box and get tripped up, drawing a penalty kick for the Vikings.
Elena Luján Rubio stepped up and knocked the PK in for the early 2-0 lead.
In the 28th minute, the Falcons would answer as they had a breakaway with just
Brooke Wolanin between the net and the attacking player. Wolanin would get a hand on the ball on the shot attempt and
Juana Quevedo nearly saving it before it trickled in to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The score would stay at 2-1 as the teams entered the half but it didn't stay that way long after, as River Falls would score just one minute into the second half after another through ball left Wolanin in a tough spot that the Falcons would convert to even the score. The final 44 played chaotic though, with both teams gaining a handful of chances and neither team mustering a goal as the game finished in a draw.
Wolanin played a huge role in the match for the Vikings, finishing with seven saves in the contest.
Bethany is next in action on Wednesday when they open the season at home with a 4 p.m. contest with Gustavus.
