Midway through their season, and they’ve already surpassed last season’s win total. The women’s soccer team recorded their sixth win with last Friday’s 1-0 road win over Lindenwood university. Last season the Lions finished 5-9-4. 

The Lions are 6-2-2 after last weekend’s matches. The Lions started the weekend with their sixth win of the season against Lindenwood. The Lions got on the board late in the second period of the game. Freshman Bailey Belcher put her team on the board after she headed the ball forward and regained possession of it about 10 yards out from the goal, and she would kick it in for her third goal on the season. 

“We struggled early on, but we made a couple changes and had more of the ball in the second half, and played much better, said head coach Chris McNaughton.

The Lions would hold the Lindenwood Lions scoreless throughout the entire game. Luz Galindo made four saves to record her second shutout of the season.

On Sunday, the Lions traveled to Warrensburg, Missouri to face off against the eighth ranked team in the nation. Central Missouri came into play at 8-1 and 2-0 in conference play. 

Scoring began just before the eight-minute mark when the Jennies’ Courtney Killian scored her sixth goal of the season. The Jennies would get on the board again around the 29-minute mark with Jada Scott’s 10th goal on the season. This gave UCM a 2-0 lead.

The Lions responded later on in the first half. With less than 20 secs remaining in the first half Sarah Tatum would put the ball in the back of the net off of an assist by junior Jessica Edwards. The game would stay 2-1 in favor of the Jennies for quite a while. 

The Lions would change that during the 72nd minute of the game. Julia Liberty put her second goal of the season in, off of an Alex McCord assist. This would tie the game at two and that’s how it would end. 

During overtime neither team could manage a goal. Only five shots were attempted during both overtime periods, four by the Jennies, and one by the Lions. The Lions took 20 shots, nine of which were on goal. The Jennies took 16 shots of their own with six of them being on goal. Galindo recorded four saves again Sunday. 

“It’s huge, and it shows that this team is more than capable of playing at a high level,” said McNaughton. “They showed that they have some fight, bite, and heart, it would have been easy for them to just shut it down and give up against a good team like Central Missouri.” 

The Lions are tied for second in the MIAA standings with Central Missouri. Before last Sunday’s game the Lions were tied with UCM at 2-0 inside the MIAA. After their tie on Sunday, the two teams would remain tied with a 2-0-1 MIAA record.

The Lions will be playing in Emporia, Kansas today at 4 p.m., to face Emporia State. The Hornets are coming into play at 7-2-1, and 3-0 at home. ESU is tied for 4th in the MIAA standings with a 2-1 record.  The Lions are 4-1-2 on the road this year. On Sunday, the Lions travel to Topeka, Kansas to face the Ichabods of Washburn University. Washburn is 5-5 today, and are 1-2 in conference play. The Ichabods are tied for 8th in the MIAA standings. Their record will change prior to Sunday’s meeting with the Lions, as they play the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist tonight.