SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University women’s soccer team grabbed their third shutout in five days, knocking off Warner Pacific College in a non-conference game, 1-0. Sophomore Maddi Bartholomew provided the offense and Kristin Fulbright made five saves between the pipes to preserve the win.
The Beacons looked to be in control of the game early but in the 11th minute NCU connected on what would be their only strong scoring opportunity of the contest. A breakaway by Bartholomew forced the keeper and a defender to converge on the attack, successfully blocking the first scoring attempt. Senior Stevie Harrison, was there to pick up the rebound and her shot was also picked off by the keeper. The ball bounced loose again, back to Bartholomew who fired home the empty-net strike from ten yards out.
The Knights (3-5-1) never relented in pushing to try for the tie, eventually outshooting the Beacons, 12-8 in the game including five shots-on-goal.
Fulbright was perfect between the pipes, registering her fourth shutout of the young season as all four Beacon victories have come without surrendering a score.
After the game head coach Brett Bentley said, “We are happy with the result but we walk away unsatisfied. The level of play dropped a bit today. We started fast and controlled the tempo but as the game went on we started to slow things up to much. Speed of play is something we want to be good at and it got away from us a bit tonight.”
Both teams are scheduled to begin the Cascade Collegiate Conference schedule next week. NCU (4-4) will travel to Concordia University on Thursday to face the defending CCC and NAIA Champion Cavaliers at 7 p.m. The Knights will host Corban at 8 p.m. that same evening.