A cold weekend had everyone bundled up to watch the Lopers take on the Northeastern State RiverHawks. The first of the two weekend games, ended up being the better game for the Lopers. Taking on the RiverHawks Friday night at Foster Field, the Lopers went the distance and won the game in double overtime.
UNK took the lead early in the first half and held it for the majority of the game. Unlike the previous weekend, set pieces were crucial in the Lopers win against Northeastern State. A corner fired in by Alex Dayton, a sophomore midfielder, found Micheala Hoffman, a senior midfielder, who shot the ball into the box. After the ball ricocheted around a few times, Emily Kosch, a senior defender ended up scoring her first career goal in minute 26 to give the Lopers a 1-0 lead.
The RiverHawks’ offense tried to create more opportunities in the second half, but came out unlucky as not one, but two shots bounced off the crossbar. However, the third time was the charm for NSU, as another shot fired in by Megan Chase, bounced off the crossbar and took the ball just over the line, where the officials declared it a goal.
Allie Prososki, a senior goalkeeper, was a key component for the Lopers throughout the game, recording five saves in the contest, as well as always making sure that the UNK defense was on its toes.
After being knotted up 1-1, regulation time ticked to an end, and the game headed to overtime. Both teams tried to create opportunities in the box, but the attacks were quickly squandered by great defense on both sides. The match continued and headed to a second overtime period, and the Lopers were sure to make this the last period. Putting more players forward the Lopers were eager to get in behind the RiverHawks’ defense.
Then the opportunity came and a great run on the outside forced a foul from NSU in its own territory. With everyone on the edge of their seat, Kaitlyn Pawloski, a senior midfielder, stepped up for the free kick. The crowd collectively held their breath, as Pawloski finessed a cross into the box where it found Ciera Clark, a senior forward, who slotted the goal past diving NSU goalkeeper, Brennan Hockett.
At the end of the match it was the RiverHawks who out-shot the Lopers, 10-8. Corner kicks were a big part of UNK’s success tallying a total of five, as opposed to NSU’s one corner kick.
After a disappointing 5-0 loss to Central Oklahoma on Sunday, the Lopers look to get back on track this weekend with two home games, first against Northwest Missouri State, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct 5. The second match will be against Missouri Western State, 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct 7.
