Eleven months have passed since the Mount Vernon Nazarene University Cougars faced off with Spring Arbor Univesity in the MCC tournament title match. Not much has changed over time. The two teams locked horns once again on Tuesday, with the match producing the same result, a 3-0 victory for Spring Arbor.
SAU used a pair of first-half goals 48 seconds apart to create seperation from the visiting side and tacked on a final tally in the second half to secure the final result.
Senior forward Maegan Smith opened the scoring and collected the game winner for SAU, taking a pass from fellow senior Megan Wegener and beating MVNU keeper Lexus Andolino high and to the far post from about 15 yards out. Junior Karly Linton tacked on the second marker after a gritty dribbling run that saw her carve through several MVNU defenders before placing a low, left footed shot past Andolino from 14 yards out.
Spring Arbor had several other good opportunities to score goals in the first half, but were unable to capitalize, as they out-shot the visiting Cougars 10-1 in the opening frame.
The second half saw MVNU try to become much more direct in their attack. SAU remained patient and senior Megan Wegener struck pay-dirt in the 58th minute to put the game on ice. Wegener took a pass that had been threaded between two MVNU defenders by junior Ashley DeNio and struck a right footed rocket that found the left side netting to make the score 3-0.
Spring Arbor substituted liberally in both halfs in an effort to remain fresh, as the Cougars have a three match week leading into the Crossroads League tournament this weekend. "This will be a tough week for us," commented SAU head coach Jason Crist. "when we should be slowing down and gearing up for the tournament, it seems we are speeding up, trying to squeeze matches in. I am so thankful for the resilient nature of this team. They continue to adapt and move forward. Our goal is to be playing our best soccer at the end of the season. I am confident that these ladies will get us there."
Spring Arbor will travel back to Marion, Indiana on Thursday to make up a match that was rained out last week against Indiana Wesleyan. Kickoff time is 7:00 p.m.
