OMAHA, Neb. – Midland University’s women’s soccer team got up early and never looked back as they claimed an impressive 8-1 win over College of Saint Mary in Saturday afternoon Great Plains Athletic Conference action. The offensively-dominated contest featured a hat trick from freshman Dana Gomez.
Midland improves to 4-3-3 on the year with an identical mark in GPAC action while the Flames drop to 4-6-1 and 4-6 in the league.
The Warriors outshot the Flames by a 31-4 margin including a 19-3 advantage in shots on goal. It was a clean game with the teams combining for just six fouls. The CSM keeper compiled 12 saves. Today’s eight goal performance marks the most goals scored by the Warriors since an 8-1 romping of Dakota Wesleyan last season.
The Warriors had not scored more than two goals in a contest this season, and today looked to be the offensive explosion the team was searching for. The three-goal performance was Gomez’s first multi-goal game of her young career. Brittany Llanes notched two goals and an assist. The other Midland goals came from Chloe Dietz, Bailey Locano, and Jericha Fox. Goalkeeper Rachel Thigpen came away with a pair of saves and an assist on the goal from Fox.
The first half was dominated by the Warriors, but the opposing keeper made a handful of athletic saves to keep the score knotted at 0-0. That was until Gomez took the game into her own hands and scored a pair of goals within a three-minute span–giving Midland the 2-0 advantage. Midland carried the lead into halftime.
CSM got on board in the 48th minute after a goal from Sara Zimmerman. That was enough to trigger an offensive explosion for the Warrior offense as three goals in a five-minute span extended the lead to 5-1. Llanes chipped in a pair along with Gomez’s third of the afternoon. Midland would go on to score in the 61st, 63rd, and 67th minutes to extinguish the Flames by a score of 8-1.
“It was nice to see our girls finish offensively today,” said head coach Greg Jarosik afterward. “As a team, we were able to create several opportunities and the girls were aggressive on the attack. We’ll enjoy this win but know we have a lot of work left starting with a big match this week on the road.”
Up next, Midland (4-3-3) will take to the pitch in Orange City, Iowa for a conference matchup with Northwestern College (4-6-1, 4-6 GPAC). Game time is slated for a 5:00 p.m. start. The Warriors are 11-3-2 all-time against the Red Raiders.
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