WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Lady Buff soccer team picked up an impressive 2-1 victory over Midwestern State on Friday night thanks to first half goals from Kaitlin Steele and Marlene van Mourik. Sophomore goalkeeper Courtney Dippel came up big in the second half as WT won its third straight match. With the win, WT improves to 6-4-0 and 4-2-0 in Lone Star Conference play while the Mustangs fall to 6-3-2 (3-2-0).

"I felt that we played one of the best first halves that we have played all season," WT women's head soccer coach Chad Webb said. "Both Kaitlin and Marlene have been producing a lot of scoring chances for us lately and that was on full display tonight. I still feel like we could have done better in the second half as we let them dictate the match more than I would have liked."

Steele scored her second goal of the season at 25:29 to give the Lady Buffs a 1-0. The Andrews, Texas native found some space in the middle of the box before sending the ball off the cross bar and in. It marked the third straight match that the Lady Buffs scored first.

The Lady Buffs doubled their advantage at 37:27 on a goal from van Mourik. The freshman forward scored her third goal in two games after receiving a through ball from Sydney Hickerson down the left wing and depositing the ball in the right corner of the net.

"Marlene continues to impress us every time she steps on the field," Webb added. "She is finally getting healthy and showing what she is capable of doing upfront. You have to give a lot of credit to Sydney on that goal as well, that was a really good pass."

The Lady Buffs finished the first half with a two goal lead for the third time this season.  They also outshot the Mustangs 7-2 in the first 45 minutes.

MSU cut into the Lady Buffs lead in the 51^st minute when Nicole Coetzer scored her third goal of the season. The senior forward headed home a cross from the right side from Destinne Williamons to make it 2-1 WT.

Dippel came up with two huge saves after Mustangs got within one goal. The Belton, Texas native first denied Williamson in the 60^th minute before making her fourth and final save of the night against Lauren Farmbrough in the 77^th minute.

The Mustangs outshot the Lady Buffs 10-9 with eight of those shots coming in the second half.

The Lady Buffs and their three match winning streak will hit the road as they are schedule to travel to take on UT Permian Basin and Angelo State next Friday and Sunday. Live stats and video for those matches can be found at GoBuffsGo.com under the women's soccer schedule.

NOTES:

·  With the win, the Lady Buffs now trail in the all-time series 18-19-3.

·   van Mourik scored goals in back-to-back matches for the second time in her career. She also scored her second career game-winner.

·  The Lady Buffs improve to 5-1-0 on the season when they allow one goal.

·  WT improved to 3-0-0 when leading by two goals at half time.

·  With the win, the Lady Buffs improved to 2-3 on the road this season.

·  Kaitlin Steele played a total of 4,751 minutes before scoring her first career goal. She only had to play 215 minutes and 29 seconds in-between her first and second career goals.