The WSC soccer team won its first conference game in a 3-2 win
against Upper Iowa University Sunday afternoon in Wayne. The Wildcats improve to 2-3-3 overall and 1-2-2 in league play after the win.

“Today, after both of our goals we had a great response and a fight and a lot of positivity from everyone and that’s what we need,” said Head Coach Joe Cleary. “Versus Winona, we didn’t have that response of
positivity.”

Cleary is referring to the 0-4 loss to the Warriors on Friday after
giving up a pair of goals in each half.

Corel Carmichael scored the first goal of the match in the 21st
minute to grab an early 1-0 lead despite the strong wind blowing
against the Peacocks.

However, the Wildcats did not falter. Just six minutes later Christina Stasi put the ball in the back of the net with a header off a cross pass from Lauren Fleming, tying the match at 1-1 in the 27th
minute.

Freshman Shelby Bullard broke the tie early in the second half with a score on an assist from Carleigh Wilson. The Peacocks responded with a 63rd minute goal from Jordyn Ostrowski to tie the game.

The tie remained until a score from Sophie Ketchmark on an assist from Rylie Wehner in the 79th minute gave the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.

“We had a lot of heart and played hard until the last whistle,”
Said Hannah Knight, senior forward. “Our bench was extremely
supportive and upped the level when they entered the game. We most importantly played together and played our game, by playing our game I mean we played connected and kept our heads through a tough opponent.”

The Peackocks were left with too little time to recover after the
last goal as the match ended with the final score of 3-2 in a win for
the Wildcats. Upper Iowa moved to 1-5-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the
NSIC.

Upper Iowa ended the match with 15 shots, seven on goal, while WSC took 19 shots with six on goal.

Sophomore goalkeeper Rachael Grisham had five saves while allowing two goals. Christina Stasi scored her second goal of the season while Rylie Wehner added an assist and six shots.

The Wildcats will travel to Moorhead to face the MSUM Dragons for their next match on Friday. The match contest will begin at 3 p.m.