Soccer (W) 8/30/2011 10:55:00 PM Sports Information Department

Pioneers Drop Opener

MNU Women's Soccer opened the season at home on Tuesday with a non conference match against Park University. The Pioneers had a slow start to the game and fell behind 1-0 by halftime. “We have 13 new players this year and it is taking some time to learn to play with each other," said Coach Orton. "We had a slow start to the game and it hurt us." Park opened the scoring in the 26th minute of play to take the 1-0 lead, then scored their second goal of the game in the 56 minute on a free kick. MNU then started to get an offensive rhythm. "It took us a bit, but after going down by 2 goals we finally settled down and started to play." said Orton.

Freshman Kara Collins scored her first college goal off a nice string of good passing and slotted the ball home to bring the score to 2-1 in the 79th minute of the game. Just 3 minutes later Freshman Misty Olsen took a shot from outside the box and the Park goalkeeper made the initial save, but Kara Collins was there to tap in the ball to tie the score at 2. Park took the lead again just 2 minutes later when an MNU defender slipped on the edge of the box and left the Park forward open to finish off the goal. MNU pressed the last few minutes and created some good chances. With less than 20 seconds left in the game MNU was awarded a corner kick and Misty Olsen sent in a perfect cross. The ball hit a Park player and fell to the feet of senior Emily Bean who hammered a shot to the back of the net, but the whistle had blown and time had expired. "The girls made an amazing come back and played with so much heart and passion. We were just a second away from completing continuing the contest. I was very proud of our team today, they played like champions." The loss moves MNU to 0-1 on the season and their next matches will be away in Dallas, Texas on September 2nd and 3rd vs. Northwood and Texas Wesleyan. Game times for both are set for 3pm.

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