Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College women's soccer team was back in action when they played host to the Central Baptist (Ark.) College Mustangs in their first American Midwest Conference contest of the season. The Cougars were able to pick up their first conference win of the year in a 6-0 victory. With the win, the women's soccer team improves to 3-2 on the season and 1-0 in conference play.
Prior to the match, the NAIA national office announced the second 2018 NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll of the season. The Cougars, who ranked 15th in the last poll, dropped three spots to 18th after going 1-1 since the last poll was released including a 3-1 loss to the fifth ranked Martin Methodist (Tenn.) College RedHawks and 2-0 win over the Missouri Valley College Vikings.
The Cougars came out in the first half and took it to the Mustangs early. It took them just five minutes to find the back of the net as Kelsey Mirts finished off her second tally of the season on a cross from Allison Floyd. Samantha Bassler started the play for Columbia as she played a ball out to Floyd on the sideline who was able to find the head of Mirts in the middle of the box to make the score 1-0. Mirts was back at it again just 12 minutes later when Lucy Kingsley was able to play a short pass to Molly Klein who found Mirts at the six yard box for her second goal of the game.
The Cougars continued to apply heavy pressure to the Mustangs back line as the half progressed and were able to add two more goals in the period to make the score 4-0 heading into the halftime break. Mirts had one of the two goals as she was able to head in her third goal of the game with 20 minutes remaining in the half to complete her first hat trick of the season and second of her career. Molly Klein had the other tally for the Cougars as she finished off her third goal of the season with 16 minutes to play. Columbia College outshot the Mustangs 18-1 in the half and had 10 shots on target.
The Cougars came out in the second half and were able to control the majority of the possession like they did in the first. Columbia College added a fifth goal to their total with just under 15 minutes to play in the game. Katie Cook made a run up the sideline before playing a cross to Megan Floyd who was able to tap the ball into the back of the net for her first goal of the season. The Cougars were able to add one more goal in the contest after Molly Klein found the top corner of the net for her second tally of the game and then closed out the Mustangs down the stretch to solidify their third win of the season.
Kate Marshall and Katie Hudson split time in goal tonight as the two combined for one save in the contest. This is the team's first combined shutout of the season and their third shutout overall.
The women's soccer team is back in action on Friday, September 14th when they travel to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, to take on the Williams Baptist (Ark.) College Eagles in an AMC matchup. The game is set to start at 2 p.m.
