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Carroll University Athletics

Scoreboard

Scoreboard

Zanon
0
North Park NPU (3-14)
1
Winner Carroll CARROLL (7-6-3)
North Park NPU
(3-14)
0
Final
1
Carroll CARROLL
(7-6-3)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
North Park NPU 0 0 0
Carroll CARROLL 1 0 1

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | | By Jeff Hagenau

Inspired effort leads to first conference victory

Pioneers defeat North Park 1-0 in gritty, determined CCIW home-field performance

WAUKESHA, Wis.  - The Carroll University women's soccer team focused on the task at hand, played with a strong sense of purpose and walked off the field with one of its most meaningful victories of the season.
That was a fitting way to describe emotionally-charged, energized performance as Carroll defeated North Park University 1-0 in a frigid, snowy College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin game at Schneider Stadium on Wednesday night.
It was the first conference victory of the season for Carroll, which posted its seventh shutout to improve to 1-4-2 in league and 7-6-3 overall.
Sophomore forward Erika Hess (Green Bay, Wis.) scored the winning goal off an assist from sophomore midfielder Kaitlyn Zanon (Waukesha, Wis.) at the 19:57 mark.
On what became the eventual winning shot in the 20th minute, Zanon served a high, arcing corner kick from the left side into the middle of the box. Seconds later, Hess completed the momentum-shifting sequence with a quick tap into the back of the net.
"Being such a young team, it was really important to come away with our first conference victory," said Carroll ninth-year head coach Susie Foster, whose team gathered in the corner of the field to ring the school's bright orange victory bell to celebrate the accomplishment. "Throughout the season, we've been in every game and have shown that we are doing all of the right things to be successful. Since the beginning, we've been working hard, growing and buying into the process. Tonight, we showed that once again by adjusting to the unusual situation of playing through the snow, cold temperatures and unexpected delay. Soccer is a crazy sport where some goals come easy but others are very difficult so even though we have struggled to put together the final piece at times to close out victories, at the end of the day we've continued to embrace each challenge. I'm just extremely proud of how we came out, handled the adversity and walked off the field with a well-deserved win."
The young, scrappy Pioneers - who have won four games by a one-goal margin - improved their home-field record to 5-1-2 overall.
Senior goalkeeper Christina O' Block (Libertyville, Ill.) registered three critical saves to preserve a victory for Carroll, which outshot the Vikings by a dominant 14-4 margin - highlighted by an 11-3 shot-on-goal advantage.
Prior to the contest, an emotional, inspirational video was played to promote the team's special, inaugural "Playing With Purpose Game" - saluting each player and coach on the team who has been personally impacted by various life-challenging causes.
"It's a new initiative for us in terms of highlighting the various causes that have impacted our team," added Foster, of the special event. "In that same spirit, it has worked to show what it means to be a part of this special group and the program. We have talked about the importance of amplifying one another both on and off the field in order to help make life better so it was great to be able to raise donations and then finish the night off with a victory. All in all it was a very good day."
North Park dropped to 0-7 in conference and 3-14 overall.
It was a costly loss in more ways than one for the Vikings as sophomore midfielder/forward Mishel Habaci suffered a freak injury in the 27th minute of the second half and after a lengthy, precautionary delay was transported by ambulance to a local hospital.
Stay up to date on Carroll women's soccer this season by going online to www.gopios.com, or by following the Pioneers on Facebook (Carroll University Athletics), Twitter (@pio_athletics), and Instagram (@pio_athletics).


 
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