ORANGE CITY, Iowa – After a delay of nearly an hour to clear ice from parts of the turf, Midland University squared off with Northwestern College in an important conference match on Wednesday night. The two teams took to the turf at Korver Field in Orange City, Iowa with Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament implications aplenty. Midland would pick up the 3-1 win, securing their spot in the GPAC Tournament to be held in the spring.
In the opening half Midland played aggressively and took their chances, netting a pair of goals on nine shots, eight of which were on target. Early on Dana Gomez had a breakout opportunity but was stopped by the keeper on a nice save. Melissa Warner had another early attempt turned away as Kisa Omerovic tried to set her up on the right side of the box.
Midland finally got a ball past the Raiders’ goalkeeper in the 29th minute. Bailey Locano was able to bring the ball down to her feet, spin to her left, and then placed the ball just past the diving keeper for the opening goal of the match.
In the 35th minute, there was a flurry of shots by the Warriors in the box. First a shot by Kisa Omerovic was sent back by the Raiders’ keeper but unfortunately for Northwestern, it found the foot of Jericha Fox who slyly sent the ball into the net to make it 2-0.
The Warriors dodged a pair of great opportunities by the Northwestern early in the second half. First, it was a solid stop by Rachel Thigpen on a point-blank shot by the Raiders in the 56th minute. Then on the ensuing corner-kick, the Raiders’ headed the ball just wide.
Ariana Flores put the Warriors up three goals in the 67th minute with a successful penalty kick following a Raiders’ fouls in the box. It was the first successful penalty shot for Midland on the year.
Northwestern would get their lone goal on the night in the __ minute as their striker send in a laser of a shot from just outside the top of the box. The Raiders would get limited chances the rest of the way as Midland’s defense tightened up to protect the lead.
Rachel Thigpen picked up the victory in net. She had four saves in 90 minutes and narrowly missed out on her 43rd career shutout.
“After the delay I thought our girls came out and gave a workman-like performance tonight, battling the cold,” said head coach Greg Jarosik. “Before the game, I told them that now that we’ve seen the ball get to the back of the net (eight goals last game), we were going to see more and more shots go our way. This win secures us a spot in the conference tournament in the spring but we’ve still got one more game to take care of first.”
Midland (5-3-3) will close out their regular season this upcoming Saturday at home. The Warriors will host Hastings (9-3, 7-3 GPAC) at 5:00 p.m. in Fremont, Nebraska at Heedum Field.
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