Two goals in the first 25 minutes of Friday (Sept. 8) night's game at Ferguson Field was enough for the No. 16-ranked Ashland University women's soccer team, as the Eagles earned a 2-1 victory over Saginaw Valley State.
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The Eagles are 3-0 to begin a season for the first time since 2015, while the Cardinals move to 2-1.
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NOTABLES
- After junior forward McKinley Mendenhall drew a foul in the box for a penalty kick, junior midfielder Merrik Mihalek scored on the PK to put the Eagles ahead in the seventh minute. The goal was Mihalek's second of 2023.
- Then, in the 25th minute, sophomore forward Dani Hicks potted her second goal of the young season on passes from Mendenhall and freshman defender Adi Turnbaugh – the first assist of the season for both.
- Ashland was 42 seconds away from a milestone – the first team in program history to have three consecutive clean sheets to start a season – but Madi Bajis scored for the Cardinals on a pass from Caitlyn Berl.
- Senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Simon, the reigning Great Midwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week, made four saves for the Eagles.
- Ashland had an 11-8 shots advantage, and took all seven corner kicks on Friday night.
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QUOTABLES
- "A little disappointed that we gave up one late," said Ashland head coach Cayleb Paulino. "I think we could have managed the moment a little better, but to get another regional win is huge. The goal is to go 2-0 this week, and we started 1-0."
- "We're really struggling offensively to create chances," Paulino noted, "so we put Dani and McKinley up top to start. McKinley's been an All-American-type player out wide, so as much as we wanted to play her up top, her best place is out wide."
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UP NEXT
Another Eagle home game on Sunday (Sept. 10) at 2 p.m. against No. 4-ranked Ferris State (2-0-1).
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