Senior midfielder Paige Weber scored her third career goal, and senior forward Jade Flory converted a penalty kick to help the Morehead State soccer team to a 2-1 victory against Wyoming Sunday (Sept. 13) at Jayne Stadium.
MSU improved to 5-1-2, while the Cowgirls, from the Mountain West Conference, dipped to 2-5-0. Morehead State has produced a five-match improvement from this point last season when the Eagles were 0-7-1.
"Wyoming is a tough, physical team, and they play a lot of balls in the air," Head Coach Warren Lipka said. "We talked to our team at halftime about winning those air battles. This was a challenging match after such an emotional win Friday night (against Louisville). That is something we always need to work on. Our job isn't done on the weekend just because we get one victory. I am proud of my team for fighting through and getting a positive result today."
Weber broke the scoring stalemate at 40:21 with her first goal of the season. After sophomore Angela Black fed her a cross pass, Weber sliced a successful 15-yard shot past Wyoming goalkeeper Georgia Rowntree. It marked Black's sixth career helper.
Senior midfielder Holly Tilley was knocked down from behind in the keeper's box at 47:58, resulting in an MSU penalty kick. Flory smashed a shot to the bottom left post for her team-best seventh goal of the year. She now has 21 career scores in 30 matches at MSU and is tied for fourth on the career chart with former Eagle Stephanie Sandfoss, who played in 1999 and 2000.
Wyoming thwarted the shutout bid at 57:19 when Kasey Curtis banged a 15-yard shot past MSU junior goalkeeper Elizabeth Floyd. Alison Clarke was credited with the assist following a long pass down the middle of the field.
Morehead State held slight advantages in shots, 8-7, and corner kicks, 4-3. Both keepers made one save.
"Our depth was huge today," Lipka said. "The second group came in late in the first half and got the first goal. The second group went in the second half and didn't give up a goal. That is one thing I pride myself on since I've been at Morehead State, and that's having depth on our teams."
MSU travels to Xavier on Friday (Sept. 19) at 7 p.m. and wraps up next weekend at Wright State Sunday at 1 p.m.
