Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the 19th ranked Columbia College women's soccer team was back in action when they played host to the Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University Lions in the Cougars homecoming game. The team was able to pick up their fourth straight win as they defeated the Lions by a final score of 5-0 to improve to 8-3 on the season and 6-0 in conference play.
The Cougars came out in the first half and dominated the possession early. They were able to get on the board 19 minutes into the game when Mallory Holzer found Kelsey Mirts in the box who beat a defender and slipped it past the keeper for her seventh goal of the season to give Columbia the 1-0 lead. They continued to control the possession as the half progressed and were able to add a second goal with nine minutes left in the half when Kelsey Mirts played a ball across the mouth of the goal to Lucy Kingsley who put it past the Lions keeper and into the back of the net for her fifth goal of the season. Columbia had a few scoring chances to add to their lead before the end of the half but were unable to capitalize as the Cougars held a 2-0 lead at the break. Columbia outshot Freed-Hardeman 9-1 in the period.
The Cougars came out in the second half and were able to score a third goal in the contest with 35 minutes left to play in the game. Molly Klein had the goal for Columbia as she finished off her team leading ninth tally of the season when she received a ball from Kaitlyn Tambke and beat the keeper to the right side of the goal to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead. Klein added a second goal in the game 13 minutes later when she received a ball at the top of the box from Kelsey Mirts before taking a shot that deflected off a Lions defender and into the back of the net to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead. Emma Laney added one more goal for the Cougars with three minutes left to play in the game off of an assist from Samantha Bassler to make the score 5-0 and Columbia closed out the game to stay unbeaten in conference play.
Kate Marshall and Erin Jones split time in goal today for Columbia as the two combined for the team's eighth shutout of the season.
The women's soccer team is back in action on Tuesday, October 9th when they travel to Belleville, Illinois, to take on the Lindenwood University-Belleville (Ill.) Lynx in an AMC matchup. The game is set to start at 7 p.m.
