The Trinity women’s soccer team dominated last weekend’s Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference games with two shutout wins. The Tigers played Texas Lutheran University on Friday and Schreiner University on Sunday.
Trinity beat Texas Lutheran 7-0 and had a total of 23 shots on goal. Sophomore midfielder Kimberly Polasek scored the first goal of the game in the fifth minute. Polasek was assisted by junior midfielder Emily Jorgens, who recorded her fifth assist of the season.
“In practice we’re really focusing on maintaining a very high competition between us as a team. It’s become really apparent among all the girls, and it’s translated into how we play our games. We’re always pushing each other harder and these games just really showed all the hard work we’ve put in,” Polasek said.
Senior midfielder Michelle Lanier, junior midfielder Hannah Kuhl and junior defender Shelby Hopkins also scored in the first half. Senior forward Shelby Guenthardt scored two goals back-to-back in the 43rd and 45th minute, which led her to be fifth on Trinity’s all-time career goals list, with 39 to her credit.
“I think the wins had a lot to do with the energy and focus that the team came out with. The girls started the games very fast with an urgency and intensity to be dangerous right from the first whistle. In both games, this contributed to quick goals early in the game,” said assistant coach Owen Collie.
First-year goalkeepers Jamie Thompson and Kendall Kotara and junior goalkeeper Lauren Goldberg combined to keep a clean sheet for the game.
“We’ve been working really hard in practice on our finishing, so that was a huge factor in our performance in the games. We knew that these games weren’t going to be the hardest competition, so we knew we had to put them away easy. Even though these teams aren’t the same level as us, we knew we had to maintain our same level of play,” Kuhl said.
Trinity beat Schreiner 10-0 on Sunday, recording their fifth shutout for the season and continuing their undefeated streak. Lanier put the Tigers on the board with a goal in the fourth minute of the game and recorded three assists. Jorgens scored two goals in the first half and had two assists, which led her to be second on Trinity’s all-time career assists list, with 37 assists. She leads the Tigers in goals scored and assists this season with seven and six, respectively.
“It’s a great personal achievement to become second on that list. I have my teammates to thank for it. I’m making the passes, but they’re the ones finishing it. I’m just really grateful to be on such an amazing team with a great group of girls, and really thanking the team for that achievement,” Jorgens said.
Junior midfielder Mariah Risk, Kuhl and White also scored in the first half, putting the Tigers ahead 7-0 at the half. First year Brigette Taylor, Hommel and first-year forward Endaisia Love scored in the second half of the game. Taylor also had two assists in the game, as did junior midfielder Kirby Peddicord. The Tigers had a total of 51 shots by the end of the game, 26 on goal.
“I think our mindset going into both games was a huge factor on our goals that we scored this weekend. We had a lot of energy going into both games. We put the pressure on early and just didn’t ever let up,” Jorgens said.
Trinity will host two SCAC games this weekend: Centenary at 6 p.m. tonight and Austin College at noon on Sunday. The team will only be playing conference games for the remainder of the regular season up until the SCAC Championships from Friday, Nov. 8, to Sunday, Nov. 10, at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas. The Tigers are looking to the Division III Women’s Soccer Championship on Saturday, Dec. 7, at Blossom Stadium in San Antonio.
