Women's Soccer Overpowers Trailblazers for Second Straight Win
(Howell, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar women's soccer team picked up right where they left off one week ago, as they dominated the visiting Ohio Christian University Trailblazers Friday afternoon at Lake Trust Stadium.
Cleary's Evalyn Cole would get the Cougars on the scoreboard in the 8th minute, scoring her first goal of the season. Miya Adams was up the left side of the field, passed the ball to Cole, where Cole danced around the defense and then fired a shot from distance, beating the goalkeeper to give CU a 1-0 lead. The lead would double less than ten minutes later. Natalia Mele helped build the attack up the right hand side by passing to Payton Zeh. Zeh's cross attempt was half-cleared, but fell to the feet of Evalyn Cole. Cole made the cross to just in front of the net, where Shayne Krystyniak was wide open for a tap-in to give Cleary a 2-0 lead. Though the Cougars dominated the statistics in the first half, and outshot Ohio Christian 15-1 in the first 45 minutes, there would be no additional goals until after the break.
In the 72nd minute, with Ohio Christian being kept under pressure by the Cougar offense, a deflected ball bouned out to Natalia Mele. Mele fired a long-range shot attempt from almost near the CU centerfield log, where the ball took a high bounce over the Trailblazer goalkeeper, and went into the back of the net to make the score 3-0. Minutes later, Shayne Krystyniak scored her second goal of the game. On a throw-in from the left side, Ashley Stover poked the ball towards the middle of the field, where Krystyniak ran onto it, and fired a curling shot into the upper right corner of the net, and essentially securing victory for the Cougars. Late in the game, Cleary would score once more, as Karliana Perdomo dribbled through the OCU defense, and sent a perfectly weighted pass into the box to the feet of Brooke Troutten. Troutten hit her shot on the first touch, and beat the goalkeeper to score her first career goal.
Cleary dominated OCU from start to finish, as the Cougars outshot the Trailblazers 29-1 in the contest. Cleary held an 11-0 advantage on corner kicks, and forced 8 saves out of the OCU goalkeeper. Shayne Krystyniak's two goals were her second and third career goals, respectively, while Natalia Mele and Brooke Troutten's goals were their first careeer goals.
Bella Marsh made 1 save in 45 minutes of action, while Kaylee Backers finished the game to combine for the shutout victory.
The win now gives Cleary a 2-2 record. The Cougars will hit the road on Wednesday, September 10, to take on the Grace Christian University Tigers in a non-conference matchup. The game is scheduled to begin at 4:00 PM.
