Box Score As far as degree of difficulty goes, the Ashland University women's soccer team took on something that could be likened to the promos for that old Saturday afternoon show, Wide World Sports. Think something like diving off the tallest cliffs imaginable or tangling with an angry, icy ski slope. It's that old, "Thrill of victory, agony of defeat," theme.
The Eagles played at Grand Valley State on Friday (Sept. 14) in the GLIAC opener for both teams. A year ago, these two teams played in the GLIAC championship game and GVSU came away with a victory. The same thing happened on Friday as the powerful Lakers stopped AU, 2-0. This is a GVSU team that went 20-1-4 a year ago and was the national runner-up. Eight starters are back from that team.
Ashland received a stellar performance between the pipes from junior keeper Karly Beuck (Lodi, Ohio/Cloverleaf). She faced 21 shots, 15 on goal. In the second half, Beuck made a pair of point-blank saves. In the first half with just over seven minutes to go before the break, she turned away another well-placed shot. That save kept the Eagles in a scoreless tie at the intermission.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Lakers (5-0-1/1-0-0) were not going to be dismayed about 45 scoreless minutes. In the second half, GVSU had 15 shots and two of those found the back of the net. Erin Hilbert scored her second goal of the season at 46:52, beating Beuck from the right side. At 70:14, Charlie Socia scored her first goal of the year on a corner kick.
The loss leaves the Eagles with a 1-4-0 card. The Eagles were coming off their first win of the season on Wednesday, a home game against Charleston.
The Eagles have a chance to gain a split on this trip of they can win Sunday (Sept. 16) at Ferris State. AU is in a stretch of four consecutive road games.
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WSOC/ALK
