TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State women's soccer team earned a 1-0 victory over Missouri Southern State Sunday afternoon at DeLoache Field.
 
The RiverHawks (13-3, 7-2 MIAA) remained in a tie with No. 10 Central Missouri for first place in the MIAA standings with 21 points. Northeastern State also became the first team to clinch one of the coveted top 4 spots in the MIAA Championship. The RiverHawks are now guaranteed to host a first-round match in the playoffs when the tournament begins Nov. 4.
 
The loss dropped the Lions to 2-13-1 overall and 0-8-1 in conference.
 
NSU did not see a lot of opportunities to score in the first half of Sunday's triumph. The team was able to muster five first-half shots, but only two were on frame. The teams went into the half knotted up at 0-0.
 
NSU brought more of a spark in the second half and outshot the visitors 16-4 in the final 45 minutes.
 
The home side broke through in the scoring column in the 66th minute on a play that began with a free kick from senior defender Emily Burch. She launched the ball into the mixer and it was initially saved by the MSSU keeper right to the foot of Julia Mathis. The sophomore midfielder blasted a shot into the top of the net from just outside the six-yard box to send the RiverHawks to victory.
 
NSU outshot the Lions 21-9 overall and won the battle of the corner kicks 6-4.
 
Jordan Woodruff (13-3) played all 90 minutes in goal and made one save. The junior goalkeeper collected her sixth shutout of the year and was able to extend her own school records with her 36th career victory and her 20th career clean sheet.
 
Missouri Southern State keeper Shawnee Phillips (2-13-1) made six saves and allowed one goal in the losing effort.
 
Mathis' tally gave NSU 50 on the year, marking the first time since 2003 that the team hit the 50-goal plateau in a single season. Northeastern State also is now tied for the second-most wins in a season in school history.
 
The RiverHawks are now set to host rival Central Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 at DeLoache Field. The match will be against two regionally-ranked foes, and UCO defeated NSU 1-0 earlier this season in Edmond (Sept. 17). The last home match of the regular season will also be Senior Day for Northeastern State.
 
Scoring Summary
MSSU              0          0          –          0
NSU                 0          1          –          1
 
Individual Scoring
Julia Mathis (NSU) at 65:48 (Emily Burch)
 
Goalkeeper Saves
Jordan Woodruff (NSU) – 1
Shawnee Phillips (MSSU) – 6
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH CHASE WOOTEN
Opening statement…
"I thought in the first half (Missouri Southern State) did a really good job of taking control of the match. I thought we were on our heels. No matter how much you talk about it you have to show up and deliver and we just didn't do it in the first half. I think we were getting frustrated with each other and we were doing simple things incorrectly. That has a funny way of haunting you. In the second half I thought we were much better. We had them locked in their half most of the time, but that makes it difficult sometimes. We missed some good chances. I thought we played better soccer in the last 45 minutes, but it was a very incomplete match for us. Kudos to Missouri Southern for coming out with a good game plan and really bringing it to us the first 45 minutes. It took us a long time to adjust to what they were doing. Overall, it was a very underperforming and uninspired day. I think the players know that and now we know we have some things we need to work on going into our match with Central Oklahoma (Thursday night)."
 
On the next two matches…
"If we don't improve from today we won't be part of the consideration. We have got to say we got a favorable bounce on a good wake-up call. We've got to be present in all matches and we know that going into it. We believe we have our work cut out for us going into these last two matches."
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-