Lady
Jackets Notch First Win (8/30/05)
Box
Score
GRAND JUNCTION, CO – The Montana
State-Billings women’s soccer team cracked into the win column on
Tuesday with a 3-1 win at Mesa State College. A pair of first
half goals from junior Ally
Stroup led the way as the Yellowjackets improved to 1-1-1.
The Yellowjackets return home from a
three-game trip to Colorado to host the Fourth Annual MSU Billings
Thrifty Cup this weekend. MSU Billings will host Adams State on
Saturday and St. Mary’s (TX) on Labor Day with both games kicking
off at 1:00 p.m. at the MSU Billings College of Technology.
Stroup (Ojai, CA) continued her hot offensive
play on Tuesday, putting three of her four shots on goal and
finding the net twice. She beat the Mavericks’ keeper one on one
at 18:56 for her first goal of the game and first of the season.
She gave the Yellowjackets a 2-0 advantage at 47:39, striking from
the left side. Stroup’s second goal was assisted by Mandy Ploskonka (Fr., Federal Way, WA). In the first three
games Stroup has taken 20 shots, putting 12 of them on goal for a
sizzling .600 shot on goal percentage.
“In the first game of this trip I was playing
on the wing,” said Stroup. “In the last two games I switched back
to the middle where I’m used to playing. I love to take those
opportunities and I felt like I was open. I’m just hitting the
ball a lot better than I did in the past two years. I think we
had a good trip. Our record doesn’t show how well we played. In
the game against Fort Lewis (a 1-1 draw on Sunday) we played
amazing. Everything was clicking and it was unfortunate that we
tied. We had so many shots, they just didn’t go in. But it
carried over to today, and I think it will carry over to this
weekend’s games at home.”
MSU Billings only out-shot the Mavericks
25-20 overall in the game, but 17 of the Yellowjackets’ shots were
on goal compared to eight for Mesa State. The Jackets kept Mavs
goalkeeper Krysti Walker under fire all day, forcing her to make
14 saves. MSU Billings keeper Megan
Plank (Jr., Phoenix, AZ) stopped seven shots in the winning
effort, breaking the school record for career saves with 212.
“Defensively we’re playing well,” said
Yellowjacket head coach Don Trentham. “We still have some room
for improvement. Offensively we looked good today. We’ll have to
see if we can keep things going. We were definitely fatigued
today. It was our third game in five days and that took its
toll. The girls gritted it out and found a way to get a win.
That’s important to end a road trip like this.”
The Yellowjackets closed out the scoring
early in the second half when Brittney Sandau (So., Billings, MT) scored from the right
side. She was assisted by Stroup, who passed across the box from
the left side. The goal was Sandau’s third in as many games to
start the season. She tied five others for third in the school
record book with three consecutive games with at least one goal.
The school record is five consecutive games with a goal by Abby
Farmer.
Stroup’s five points in the game gave her 50
for her career. She is 21 short of Margot Merrill-Johnson’s
school record of 71. Stoup already holds the school record for
assists (16 after Tuesday) and is third in school history with 17
career goals.
“Overall it was a successful trip,” added
Trentham. “To go on the road for the first three games and come
out of it 1-1-1 is good. It will be good to go back home and play
our two big games this weekend. One of the big positives of this
trip is that everyone who made the trip got experience on the
field. It’s evident that we’re a lot deeper than we were last
year. That depth will help us a lot as the season goes on.”
In all, 10 different Yellowjackets had at
least one shot on goal against the Mavericks. Along with Stroup, Katie Ginther (Fr., Puyallup, WA) had three shots on goal.
Putting a pair of shots on goal were Jenny Moellendorf (Jr., Green River, WY), Micah Merrill-Johnson (Fr., Salt Lake City, UT), and Chelsea Libby (Fr., Puyallup, WA).
Photos of Women's
Soccer, Season opening trip to Colorado (courtesy
of Rusty Stephens) |
