The UW-River Falls women's soccer team defeated the Bethel University Royals 2-1 in a comeback road victory on Monday afternoon in Arden Hills, Minnesota.
The Falcons trailed for the majority of the contest and needed two late goals, only 1:42 apart, to steal a win from the hungry Royals who have only won one game on the season.
"This was one of our more exciting wins," said Head Coach
Sean McKuras. "I am so proud of our women. We went down a goal early and had to battle back in the second half."
The Royals jumped to an early 1-0 lead just 1:40 into the contest with a goal from senior forward Jessica Huseby that slipped past Falcons sophomore goalkeeper Eric Cimochowski (6-3-2). Huseby's third goal of the season was assisted by senior defender Olivia Haggerty and freshman forward Savannah Swanson.
The Royals held the Falcons off the board for 70-plus minutes before senior midfielder
Abbie Zastrow tagged home the first goal of her career to tie the contest at one. Zastrow's tying goal beat Royals sophomore goalkeeper Micale Jensen (1-7-3), and was assisted by senior forward
Alex Swatloski, her first of the season and fourth career.
Swatloski wasted little time putting the Falcons ahead for good as she hammered the ball past Jensen just 102 seconds later. Swatloski's eighth goal of the season was assisted by freshman standout midfielder
Abby Soderholm, the second of her career. Swatloski's eighth goal is now a career-high and gives her 18 career goals.
"This was a great learning experience for our team," McKuras said. "We played a tough game less than 24 hours ago and we were mentally strong enough to get the win today."
Cimochowski and the Falcons were able to keep the Royals off the board for 90-plus minutes, with time stoppages, after the opening tally. Both teams fired nine shots, with the Falcons hitting the net five times to Bethel's three. Cimochowski ended the night with two saves; Jensen finished with three saves.
Swatloski led the Falcons with two shots on goal. Zastrow, junior defender
Missy Barnett and freshman forward
Kayla Windingstad all finished with one shot on goal.
The Falcons improves to 6-3-2 overall and 4-3-1 on the road. Bethel drops to 1-7-3 overall and 1-3-2 at home. The Falcons are now 11-5 all-time against Bethel.
UWRF hosts the Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties (1-6-3) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening in River Falls, Wisconsin.
Box Score
