Eagles Blow Out Bulldogs, Improve to 2-0 in Conference

 KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Anchored by tallies from five different goal scorers on offense and a strong total team performance on defense, Avila women's soccer (2-5-0, 2-0-0 KCAC) dominated McPherson (1-5-1. 0-2-0 KCAC) by a final count of 5-0 on Sunday afternoon at The Z, tied for the largest margin of victory in Katie LaForge's tenure as Avila's head coach. 

Even in recent seasons where Avila's been KCAC Tournament quality and McPherson has not, these two squads have consistently played close games - 1-0 or 2-1 finals have been the standard, in one direction or the other. But on this afternoon, it was all Avila: McPherson had one legitimate scoring chance that it did not convert on, and the Eagles completely took care of business in all other phases of the game to earn an impressive team win. Avila defeated both Sterling and Central Baptist 6-1 in 2019, but this is the largest shutout victory in LaForge's six seasons at Avila. 

It didn't take Avila long to get the scoring started Sunday. Annika Holtorf laid off a pass for Maddylen Farris at the top of the box, and the freshman midfielder dipped her long-range shot just off the bottom of the crossbar and over the hands of goalkeeper Lauren Kunda for her first collegiate goal 11 minutes into the game. A near disaster on a giveaway in the Eagles' defensive third gifted McPherson a scoring chance through top attacker Caitlin Buendia halfway through the period, but goalkeeper Olivia Seston recovered to prevent even a shot on goal and snuff out the chance. 

And the Bulldogs never really threatened again. Seston finished with three saves in a strong, important rebound game for her personally, but the Avila defense, led mostly in minutes by Amaris Sigler, Brooke Clark, Suzie Lopez, Alessandra Calderon and Korynn Peregine, made life very easy for their goalkeeper and very difficult for McPherson's offense. 

Meanwhile, after being limited to just one goal in the first half, the Avila offense had no trouble against the Mac defense in the second half. Avila got great contributions from first-year and veteran players alike as the team looks to continue to gel and improve now two games into the "new" season. Avila broke into the offensive zone literally off the second half kickoff, and Joselyn Clark played Hope Hines in to the near post for a shot back across the net and perfectly inside the far left post for a tally inside the first minute of the second half. Just a few minutes later, Clark sent another pass into the box from near the left corner, and it found Megan Nugent unmarked, and she slammed it home with her left foot: not even five minutes into the half, the Eagles had made it 3-0. 

Now with a decisive edge, the Eagles began to settle into the match, but the team never lost its killer instinct. Moving up from her left back spot, Amaris Sigler set up Nikkole Wood for a finish in close to make it 4-0, and later, with under 20 seconds to play, off yet another great Megan Nugent corner, Aubrey Chaney found some separation and knocked home her first goal of the season to put an exclamation point on the victory. Incredibly, Avila has now scored goals directly off corners in four straight matches, dating back to Wood's goal against Park - an almost unprecedented streak at almost any level of college soccer. 

Now armed with two wins in two tries in conference play, Avila will next hit the road for the first time in the conference season when the Eagles make the short trip up to Leavenworth to take on Saint Mary this Wednesday, September 20. The women's game will kick off at 5 PM with the men to follow at 7:30; as always, you can watch all the action on the KCAC Network.