Neal?s four goals not enough for Wesleyan

By ANDY KRUTSINGER

Mt. Pleasant News

The Iowa Wesleyan women?s soccer team battled with Faith Baptist for the full ninety minutes on Thursday evening, as freshman Cheyenne Neal scored four goals but the Eagles escaped with a 5-4 win.

Faith?s Holly Shepard started the game off with a bang when she scored just over a minute and a half into the contest. Neal responded less than thirty seconds later with a goal to tie it up at one, but after the fast start things calmed down.

With teams starting to tire and legs becoming weak in the hot sun, the two teams went over twenty minutes without a score, until Neal struck again. Almost at the out of bounds line on the far side, Neal sent a high shot that perfectly nestled into the far left corner of the goal and past the Tiger keeper. Faith?s Rebekah Stillwall, however, tied the game up with a short goal before halftime.

Coming out of halftime with the game tied at two, Neal completed the hat trick on a penalty kick, after a Tiger was taken down inside the box. Shepard, though, responded with goals in the 57th and 67th minutes to re-claim the lead for the Eagles.

Neal tallied her fourth goal with just over twenty minutes to go. She sent a shot past the keeper with her left foot as she was falling down to tie the game at four. However, just over ten minutes later, Faith?s Laure Christenson sent a rocket into the high-corner to give the Eagles the lead, 5-4, and the Tigers had no more bullets left to tie it up.

Neal?s four goals came on six shots on goal. Lindsay Schaffter had four opportunities, Celina Paz had two and Aaugust Watkins had one. Keeper Zoie Spurr saved four shots on the night.

The Tigers (0-1) will hit the road for their next contest. They?ll head to Lincoln Christian University on Sept. 5 for a game starting at 2 p.m.