rathcs@lopers.unk.edu
An injury-infested UNK women’s soccer squad played tough against two top five MIAA opponents, but mistakes would haunt the Lopers. An own goal in the first minute of overtime against Northwest Missouri State and an early second-half goal by Missouri Western State saw the Lopers fall twice over the weekend at Foster Field.
It only took a little over a minute for Northwest Missouri State to score in overtime as Kaylie Rock took a shot that bounced off a Loper defender to give the Bearcats a 2-1 victory in overtime.
“We are kinda a patchy team right now,” said UNK coach Chloe Roberts. “We play well for 15 minutes, then we don’t play well for 10, then we play well for 15. We need to play consistent”
Northwest Missouri Kaylie Rock scored in the 23rd minute of the first half. The Lopers would tie the game at the 75-minute mark on a corner kick by Caralee Leg that found Kassidy Kirsch who tapped in her third career goal in a Loper jersey.
“The goal on the set play was great, a corner kick and Angelina (Iocca) to head it down and Kass (Kassidy Kirsch) was in the right spot to tap it in,” Roberts said. “Good moment for her coming back from a bad ankle injury.”
UNK’s next contest was against Missouri Western who is ranked ninth in the central region poll. The Lopers faced a new challenge which was starting inexperienced goalkeeper Eden Miura. Starting keeper Emery Mounce and backup Rainna Daharsh are both on the injured list. Daharsh suffered a concussion on the last play in the Northwest Missouri State game.
“For those of you who don’t know, we are on our third rotation of a goalie right now,” Roberts said. “She was brilliant.”
A second-half corner kick that found the head of Ester Toth ended up in the back of the net. UNK had a chance when Perla Navarro had a breakaway, but Missouri Western goalkeeper Anna Mayer made a nice save to keep the score 1-0 which would eventually be the final score.
“That’s a top 10 team in the region and we were right there,” Roberts said. “They need to be proud of themselves.”
The 2-10 Lopers hit the road this weekend for a road trip to Missouri as they take on Missouri Southern on Friday and Central Missouri on Sunday. Missouri Southern is currently 10th in the MIAA while Central Missouri sits in second place.
