Sports

Women's soccer bruises No. 21 Texas A&M Commerce in 7-1 win

By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

The Metro women's soccer team scored six goals in the second half to defeat No. 21 Texas A&M Commerce, 7-1 in non-conference action Friday afternoon at Auraria Field.

The Lions accomplished something no other team has done this season. When Jessica Pierce headed in a goal in the ninth minute of the game, it marked the first time the Roadrunners had trailed in a game all season. It would not last long.

The 'Runners tied the score in the 18th minute when junior midfielder Kira Sharp bent a free kick around the Lions' goalie for the score. The score was 1-1 at the half.

"Starting out we need to pick it up because we only seem to have it in the second half," senior midfielder Jodi McGann said. "We're a second-half team and we have more skill than that."

Metro showed off the second half skills that made them successful all season by coming out and scoring what would be the winning goal less than three minutes into the stanza. Junior forward Kylee Hanavan headed in the cross from McGann for her 10th goal of the season to give the 'Runners the permanent lead.

Six minutes later, the Lions' frustration started to show. 'Runners freshman defensive back tangled with Lions' senior forward Erin De Wolfe on a tackle and the result was a scuffle that landed both backs with yellow cards.

"I was happy with how Nicole (Cito) kept her composure," head coach Danny Sanchez said. "Sometimes other teams get frustrated a little bit and it's important that you keep your composure."

Metro looked very composed from that point on, scoring five more goals in 21 minutes of play. Hanavan scored three more goals in the half-two of them unassisted and one coming off of an assist from Dominique Van Lieu.

"You don't want to see one of your teammates get hit like that," Hanavan said. "Of course you're going to pick up your game and be more aggressive."

The hat trick was Hanavan's second in as many games and her seven goals over those two games give her a team-high 13 goals on the season.

"None of our goals today were cheap at all," Hanavan said. "It's nice to have great players that can feed you the ball like that."

Freshman forward Anne Ormrod scored her 10th goal of the season on a Shelly Radosevich assist and junior midfielder Amira Ebel finished off the game with a goal on a drop pass from Katie Kilbey.

The 'Runners improved to 11-0 on the season, while the Lions slipped to 5-4 for the year.

Metro travels to Texas this weekend to take on the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio on Friday before heading to Austin to play St. Edwards University on Sunday.

"We'll get a little rest and then we have two huge regional games on the road next week," Sanchez said. "It's important that we re-focus and get ready for that trip to Texas."