Pride bounce back with big road win over Baker
BALDWIN CITY, Kan. - Following a tough home loss on Tuesday, the Clarke University women's soccer team earned a much-needed 2-0 road victory over Baker University on Saturday afternoon.
The Pride were on the attack early and often, earning a corner kick in the second minute and firing six shots and four shots on goal in the first 21 minutes of the game before striking first when Natalie Coyle played the role of super sub, cashing in on a rebound off of a Laryssa Pritchard shot that was saved right to the middle of the box for Coyle to pounce on before any of the BU defenders could clear the ball.
Initially the ball was won by CU off of a Wildcat goal kick that Audrey McKenna gathered and passed to Abby Prunty, who led a sprinting Pritchard on for a shot at goal that would lead to Coyle's first career goal in her sixth game with on the Clarke varsity squad as she subbed in at the 16th minute and would go on to play a career-high 73 minutes and take two shots, the first coming less than a minute following her entering the game in the first half.
It would be a quiet half on the defensive end for the Pride as they only allowed two shots from the Baker attack, none of which forced CU goalkeeper Abigail Turley to make a save as the freshman netminder would make three saves in the second half to preserve her second individual shutout of the season in her third-straight start and fourth start of the season.
Both teams would put the offensive pressure on early in the second half, trading shots on goal over the first nine minutes where Turley made two of her three saves over that span, helping set up the second Clarke goal of the game when Jayden Black would get her fourth of the season in the 61st minute to cushion the Pride lead to 2-0, the eventual final score.
Black's goal was scored on a free kick on the left wing near the left corner of the 18-yard box as she would strike a curling ball toward the far post that would bang off that post and into the back of the net to extend her team-lead in goals on the season in a season that saw the sophomore from Torrance, Calif. miss time over the middle portions of the schedule.
Saturday's win looms large for the Pride nearing the end of the regular season as they currently possess 16 points in the Heart of America Athletic Conference standings with one game remaining in the regular season, setting up a draw/win-and-in situation in that final game, still with a chance to finish as high as fifth place and a slim possibility to miss out on the Heart Tournament.
That game will be on Clarke's home turf of Burrows Field when they host Culver-Stockton College, who is the lone team that can catch CU in the standings for the eighth spot, but the Wildcats need a win to match the Pride's 16 points, as that game will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 29 with a scheduled 5:00 p.m. kickoff.