Three goals netted in a seven-minute span midway through the second half aided #17 Minnesota State University-Mankato to a 4-0 shutout over Upper Iowa's women's soccer team on Sunday afternoon.
Minnesota State (4-1, 2-0) used back-to-back scores from Molly Riley and a goal from Morgan Cottew to put the game out of reach in the second period. Natalie Rudrud tied her season-high 12 saves as Minnesota State put 16 shots on goal in 21 attempts.
The Mavericks' first goal came off a powerful header placed perfectly in the back corner of the net by Dakota Wendell. Jenny Vetter was credited with the assist in giving Wendell her third goal of the season.
Trailing 1-0, Upper Iowa (1-5, 0-3) had a few missed opportunities to tie up the match. Katie Samuels' set piece just outside the 18 was cut short by a strong MSU wall, Jayna Morikawa took a through-ball from Facienne Graham just wide of the mark, and Aimee Sies gave Joline Hellstroem a decent look but the opportunity was ended by Alexa Rabune coming off her line and scooping the ball up.
Rudrud and the Peacock defense were put to work in the last half of the first period when the Mavericks worked to produce four corners and seven shots. Despite big offensive pressure, Rudrud stayed strong and came up with a several good grabs for UIU to keep the score 1-0 at the break.
The second half was all defense for the Peacocks who were outshot 10-1. Riley posted two insurance tallies in the 67th and 69th minute with the help of Wendell and Nadia Lowery, respectively. Riley used a ball up the middle to beat UIU defenders for her first score, and caught Rudrud off-guard less than two minutes later who was looking for an offsides call. Cottew got in on the scoring action from five yards out in the 74th minute to give MSU the 4-0 shutout.
MSU tallied up 12 corner kicks on the afternoon, but strong defensive efforts by Jessica Kron, Molly Doran, and Graham limited the Mavericks to only producing one shot off the initial contact from the corner kick.
Upper Iowa returns home to Pattison Field for a pair of NSIC matches against Bemidji State University and University of Minnesota Crookston. The Peacocks are set to face the Beavers on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. and the Golden Eagles at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning and will look for their first conference win of the 2018 season.
