ROCHESTER, Mich. – Women's soccer capped off a very strong opening weekend for Shawnee State Athletics with a 4-0 win of its own Sunday afternoon at Rochester College. Playing indoors, the Bears tallied three times in opening half and added one final goal in the second half to pace its season-opening win.
The win makes the Bears 7-1 in their season opening matches under head coach Rob Appell and 9-4-1 all-time in season openers. Today's win also turned around the only blemish on Appell's opening day record after a 2-1 overtime defeat at the hands of Rochester a season ago.
Sophomore Jessica Fair scored the first and last goals of the game on Sunday to give her a pair of goals after she tied for the team lead with nine a season ago. Sunday was the second multi-goal game of her career. Allison Nagle, who set up the final goal of the day also tallied along with Tasha Wilson in the victory. Teresa Welch would be credited with the assist on Nagle's goal.
The Bears applied the pressure to Rochester early as they got two corner kick chances in the opening five minutes. They were unable to convert either of those chances and Fair would send a shot over the crossbar right at the 15-minute mark but it would not be much longer until they broke through.
In the 19th minute, Fair would again take a shot that this time hit off the crossbar. However, the rebound would come right back to her and she would finish to put the Bears up 1-0 with 26-plus minutes to play in the opening half.
Just under 14 minutes later, Nagle would tally in the 33rd minute to put the Bears up 2-0. However, they would not be done just yet as Wilson knocked home a goal in the 41st minute, just less than eight minutes after Nagle had scored, and the Bears took a 3-0 lead into the half.
Fair would add the finishing touches on the victory at nearly the identical time of the second half as when she scored in the first half. Her first goal of the day came with 26:34 showing on the clock. Her second goal to make it 4-0 in favor of the Bears came with 25:47 left in the second half.
Emily Kuehn recorded the shutout in goal. She was called on to make five saves over the course of the full 90 minutes as she faced eight shots in all. The Bears finished the game with nine shots. Five of those shots were on goal and four ended up being finished. Fair led the team with five shots, putting three on goal.
With the first win of the season under their belts, the Bears will now get set for their home opener this coming Wednesday, August 28. That game will get underway at 4 p.m. on the Shawnee Turf.
Notes: The Bears are now 1-1 all-time vs. Rochester College … Jessica Fair also scored the lone goal against Rochester least season, giving her three in her career against them … Fair now has 11 career goals which moves her into sole possession of 10th place in program history … Fair has 24 career points which ties her with Staci White (2006-09) and Cindy Hay (2007-09) for 11th-most all-time … Fair's first goal was the second game-winning goal of her career … Allison Nagle's goal was the 14th of her career which ranks ninth in program history … With three points today, Nagle tied Lana Kaucher (2006-07) with 42 points in a career, the eighth-most all-time … Tasha Wilson's goal was the first of the sophomore's career … Wilson is the 67th different player to score a goal in program history … Teresa Welch's assist was the 10th of her career … Emily Kuehn now has 14 wins and six shutouts in goal, both of which are the third-most in program history.
