ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Women's Soccer team stayed hot on Saturday, earning a dominant 4-0 win over Crown College. UNW scored three goals in the opening 45 minutes and followed with a final goal in the second half to seal the win, moving to 3-1-1 on the season.
In the 21st minute, Marie Kendall (Dakar, Senegal/Dakar Academy) continued to create and deliver from the corner, sending a perfect ball to the head of Mallory Moseman (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy), who usually anchors the Eagles' back line. Moseman's goal, the first of her career, gave UNW the early lead. Just three minutes later, Kendall, who has been lethal from distance all season, tacked on a goal of her own. After receiving a pass near midfield, she turned and launched a rocket from nearly 30 yards out, curling it into the bottom left corner to double the Eagles' lead. The freshman wasn't satisfied with her goal and assist, with under a minute left in the first half, Kendall found another goal. She split two defenders along the sideline, dribbled toward the box, and buried a shot top shelf over the Crown keeper to make it 3-0.
In the second half, Kendall completed her hat trick, scoring her 6th goal this season, after shaking three defenders and sneaking a shot through a tight window between the keeper and the post to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Eagles dominated the offensive end, taking 23 shots and earning 14 corner kicks. Kendall led the attack with three goals, one assist, and nine shots on target out of her 12 total attempts. Haley Mersberger (Kiel, Wis./Elkhart Lake Glenbeulah) joined the push with six shots, three on goal, while Moseman knocked home a goal on her lone attempt for her first career score. Defensively, Northwestern gave the Polars a hard time, allowing only two shots in the entire match. Sam Hansen (Cottage Grove, Minn./New Life Academy) collected one save in goal before Kaisa Niska (Ramsey, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) stepped in to close out the final minutes of the Eagles' shutout.
The Eagles will return home to Reynolds Field to take on North Central University on Tuesday, October 7 at 7 PM.
