BOLIVAR, Mo. - The Upper Iowa women's soccer team (3-6-2, 1-5-1 GLVC) scored two goals in the final 11 minutes to get its first GLVC win of the season over Southwest Baptist (Mo.) (3-8-1, 1-6-1 GLVC). Myriah Roybal scored in the 80th minute and Giovanna Alexa Garcia scored in the 86th minute for the 2-1 victory.
Alexa Garcia's go-ahead goal was set up by Haylee Allen, who made a nice move to get free and advance the ball down the field. Allen pushed it up to Haylie Hutchinson, who crossed it over to Alexa Garcia. The junior controlled the pass and kicked it with her left foot high into the net for the score.
Roybal's goal came after Allen was tripped by Southwest Baptist's Annabelle Shuler for the foul. The sophomore knocked the free kick high into the net for the score despite the best effort of the SBU goalkeeper, who couldn't quite control the ball to keep it out of the goal.
Avery Harding got her first career start at goalkeeper, totaling six saves. Her first two saves came in the first eight minutes of the game. She had two more saves back-to-back in the first two minutes of the second half.
Shuler scored in the 64th minute for Southwest Baptist. She snuck one through the ground on the left side for the game's opening goal.
Alexa Garcia led the Peacocks in shots with three on goal. Rhea Buchanan and Allen both had two shots. Meghan Zwicker added a shot on goal. Buchanan, Stephany Castillo, Natalie Lima, Roybal and Zwicker played all 90 minutes.
Upper Iowa outshot Southwest Baptist 11-10, but the Bearcats held the advantage in shots on goal at 7-5. The Peacocks held a 7-3 advantage in the first half on shots, but were outshot 7-4 in the second half. UIU converted on its only two shots on goal in the second half.
The Bearcats held an advantage in corner kicks, 10-7. Southwest Baptist recorded 10 fouls while the Peacocks had eight. SBU's Cece Alexander totaled three saves in goal, all in the first half.
This is the first win for Upper Iowa since Sept. 14 vs. Jamestown. It's the first GLVC win in 11 conference games for the Peacocks. UIU last defeated Lincoln (Mo.) 2-1 on Oct. 14, 2024.
Upper Iowa women's soccer stays in Missouri to play Drury (Mo.) (5-2-3, 4-1-3 GLVC) on Sunday at 12 p.m. The Panthers tied with Lewis (Ill.) in a 0-0 stalemate on Friday night.
