CANYON, Texas – The Lady Buffs scored early and often as they defeated Southern Nazarene 5-1 on Saturday afternoon in front of 277 fans at The Pitch. WT scored three goals in the first 16 minutes before adding two goals late to finish their non-conference schedule on two match winning streak. With the win, the Lady Buffs improved to 2-2 while Southern Nazarene fell to 1-5.
"The game went up and down, we started fantastic as we scored three in goals in the first twenty minutes," said WT head coach Chad Web. "It took a little bit of low as we gave up an easy goal later in the first half. We came out in the second half creating all sorts of chance but fell back into a low. We finished really strong with those two goals from Ronni. With conference starting next week we need to figure out to get rid of those lows."
The Lady Buffs jumped out an early 1-0 lead courtesy of a penalty kick. Marlene van Mourik converted her first career goal from the penalty spot after Khadidra Debesette was brought down in the box at 2:46.
WT made it 2-0 on another penalty from van Mourik in the 16th minute. It was Lucy Chalgren who earned the penalty after the keeper made contact with her inside the box. SNU's guessed correctly but was unable to stop the shot from going in.
"I don't think people realize how hard it is to score two penalty kicks in the same game," said Webb when asked about van Mourik's two penalty kicks. "Facing the same goalkeeper twice in the same match but Marlene did well. She really blasted that second one into the back of the net."
The scoring barrage continued just 27 seconds later when Katelyn Taschler scored her first of the season. The junior midfield got on the end of a loss ball 20 yards from goal before volleying it into the back of the net.
The Crimson Storm got one back in the 24th minute after Meagan Chase got on the end of a through ball. Chase nearly got another one in the 28th minute on a shot from distance but was denied by the woodwork.
Kaitlin Steele came within of inches of making the match 4-1 right before half time but saw he shot cleared off the line at the last second by a Crimson Storm defender.
The Lady Buffs held a 18-4 advantage in shots and 3-0 advantage in corners.
WT's first real chance in the second half came at 47:17 when Karyn Forbes's shot from inside the penalty area was blocked. Forbes had another chance in the 61st minute but saw the ball sail over the cross bar.
Ronni Ajeto put the match out of reach in the 87th minute after a perfectly timed run found her one-on-one with the keeper. The Henderson, Nevada wasted no time as she went far post past the outstretched hands of SNU keeper Natasha Fuentes.
Ajeto wasn't done as she scored her second of the match with just one second left to seal the match at 5-1. After finding space in the midfield, the freshman forward turned towards goal and ripped the ball into the upper 90 from 25 yards out.
The Lady Buffs finished the match with a 26-10 advantage in shots and taking three more corners than SNU.
Courtney Dippel played all 90 minutes in goal for the Lady Buffs making five saves.
The Lady Buffs will open Lone Star Conference play next week on the road with matches against nationally-ranked Texas Woman's and Texas A&M-Commerce.
NOTES:
· Kaitlin Steele made her 50th career start for the Lady Buffs.
· Ronni Ajeto joins Marlene van Mourik as the only Lady Buffs to score two goals in a match this season.
· Steele led the team in shots with six including four shots on goal.
· WT has outscored opponents 8-2 at The Pitch this season.
