TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State women's soccer team defeated Nebraska-Kearney 7-1 Sunday afternoon at DeLoache Field.
 
The RiverHawks (10-2, 5-1 MIAA) are two victories clear of last year's win total and have now reached 10 wins in four of the last five years. The win also gave NSU five league victories, which matches the total in conference play from a season ago.
 
Junior forward Anastasia Robinson registered her first-career hat trick in the match when she scored in the 10th, 58th and 60th minutes, respectively. This was the third hat trick by an MIAA player this season and the first time for an NSU player since Sept. 19, 2013 (Jennifer Clark).
 
Senior forward McKenzie Musella also tallied a goal and a trio of assists for a career-high five points.
 
The Lopers (4-5-3, 3-2-1 MIAA) scored first in Sunday's match just 2:02 into the contest off the foot of Evie Sintek. She sent a cross from the right that used the gusting winds to curl into the net.
 
It didn't take long for NSU to equalize, as Robinson's first goal came just seven minutes later. Musella scored her goal in the 19th minute and junior midfielder Jennifer Cudjoe put NSU on top 3-1 heading into halftime when she scored in the 22nd minute.
 
Senior midfielder Rachel Gleason chipped the keeper in the 53rd minute and Robinson registered her final two tallies over the course of the next seven minutes.
 
The last goal of the match came in the 84th minute from true freshman midfielder Madilyn Payne. Her goal was significant because it helped break a school record for Northeastern State. The RiverHawks have now had 13 different goal scorers, which sets the all-time mark in program history for most goal scorers in a single season.
 
Junior goalkeeper Jordan Woodruff (10-2) stopped four shots to collect the victory after playing the first 70 minutes. Redshirt freshman Meg Smith closed out the in goal but was not forced to make a save.
 
Ali Hirschman (4-5-3) suffered the loss after finishing with three saves and five goals allowed. She played the first 58 minutes. Jaclyn Paloucek was in net for the final 32 minutes for the Lopers. She conceded twice and did not make a save.
 
NSU outshot UNK 19-10 and led 5-2 in corner kicks.
 
Northeastern State will now hit the road for a pair of conference matches. First up will be a 7:30 p.m. contest Oct. 16 against Lindenwood in St. Charles, Missouri.
 
Scoring Summary
UNK                1          0          –          1
NSU                 3          4          –          7
 
Individual Scoring
Evie Sintek (UNK) at 2:02 (unassisted)
Anastasia Robinson (NSU) at 9:01 (Jennifer Cudjoe)
McKenzie Musella (NSU) at 18:19 (Julia Mathis)
Jennifer Cudjoe (NSU) at 21:12 (McKenzie Musella, Kelsey McIntyre)
Rachel Gleason (NSU) at 52:47 (McKenzie Musella, Emily Burch)
Anastasia Robinson (NSU) at 57:59 (McKenzie Musella, Lauren Wagner)
Anastasia Robinson (NSU) at 59:12 (Julia Mathis, Jennifer Cudjoe)
Madilyn Payne (NSU) at 83:48 (Alanah Martin)
 
Goalkeeper Saves
Ali Hirschman (UNK) – 3
Jaclyn Paloucek (UNK) – 0
Jordan Woodruff (NSU) – 4
Meg Smith (NSU) – 0
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH CHASE WOOTEN
On coming back from a goal down for the second-straight match…
"You lay out plans on how you want a game to go as best you can craft it, then you turn around and you concede a goal so early. We were frustrated in that moment but I thought our kids showed some mental toughness to not get distracted and not lose focus. We continued to play as a group and I thought we achieved some things. We've talked about pregame objectives and we've delivered those well. We've played really well and I thought this was another game where as a team we got done what we needed to get done. I mean the fact that we conceded an early goal wasn't a positive by a long shot, but the way we responded to it was."
 
On how the reserves played in the second half…
"We're absorbing some injuries at this point in the season. As we're trying to acclimate to those we're certainly going to have some new faces in some new places so those are valuable moments for us. I thought we were too direct midway through the second half but I think some of that is just the inexperience of how to play together. We were missing that extra pass. If we were getting that extra pass in I think we could've played a little cleaner. At the same time we wanted to save some legs where we could, and obviously Nebraska-Kearney made some subs too. In the big picture of it all our goal was to get out of there injury-free and for the most part we did. Certainly there are some areas we need to work on as we look at the last half hour."
 
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