Waller's Goal Enough to Give Women's Soccer Homecoming Victory
(Howell, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar women's soccer team played another excellent game of soccer Saturday, as they earned a 1-0 shutout victory over the Rochester Christian Warriors on Homecoming.
Both teams started slowly, but the Warriors would win the race to creating shots first, as RCU attempted four shots before Cleary's Ashley Stover attempted Cleary's first shot just past the halfway mark of the first half. The Cougars grew more into the game, and Lucy Reinke forced a save from the Warrior goalkeeper. Rochester Christian would have a dangerouse chance, as a cross was sent in and found the foot of a Warrior, but the shot's redirect was right at Bella Marsh, and the game remained scoreless.
Rochester Christian would start on the front foot in the second half, firing multiple shots, but fortunately none were on target. Cleary's defense would turn to offense, as the Cougars pounded on a counter-attack, building up through the middle where the ball ultimately found Karliana Perdomo. Perdomo made a cut, drawing the defense towards her, and she timed it perfectly, as she then sent a through ball behind the defense to Chelsea Waller who only had the goalkeeper to beat. Waller would place the shot into the net, and gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead in the 57th minute. Rochester Christian would push forward to try and equalize, but Cleary's defense was up to the task, limiting almost all of the dangerous chances that the Warriors were generating. The chances that were given up resulted in shots that were off the mark, or easily cleaned up by Bella Marsh and the rest of the Cougar defense.
Bella Marsh earned her second consecutive shutout, and fifth of the season, as she made 9 saves in the game. Cleary was outshot 23-5 in the game, with 9 of RCU's shots being on target to 3 of Cleary's. Cleary committed 15 fouls to RCU's 7 in the game.
The win improves Cleary's record to 5-7-2 overall, 1-4-2 in the WHAC. The Cougars will next play on the road on Wednesday, October 15, when they take on the Indiana Tech Warriors at 7:00 PM.
