FULTON, MO.— A flurry of goals in the second half gave the Central College women's soccer team the momentum it needed to outlast Westminster College 4-2 Saturday night.
The second road win in as many days for the Dutch puts their record at 6-1 on the year, as Westminster drops to 3-2.
In a bit of déjà vu from the Wisconsin-Oshkosh match a week earlier, midfielders
Lauren Vahlkamp (junior, Quincy, Ill., Notre Dame HS) and
Lauryn Kramer (junior, Cedar Falls) kicked off the scoring on a corner kick for a goal off the head of Kramer.
"That's a real winning combination for us," Kobylinski said. "We really like that."
A Blue Jay goal evened the match at 1-1 at halftime.
"In the first half we got a little out of our game and we were worried about things outside of our control," Kobylinski said. "We had a stern talk with the team at half and they come out and played their best half of soccer of the season."
It didn't take long for Central to respond as forward
Erin Manion (sophomore, Delafield, Wis., Kettle Moraine HS) gave the Dutch a 2-1 lead three minutes into the second half. Midfielder
Caitlyn Champ (junior, Kearney, Mo.) assisted the scoring strike. Manion dished to midfielder
Kallie Holte (senior, Kirksville, Mo.) for her fifth goal of the year nine minutes later to put Central up 3-1.
"Both goals were similar type of plays," Kobylinski said. "They were both beautiful finishes."
Though Westminster scored at 81:10 to give themselves some hope,
Mikaela Erickson's unassisted goal just 24 seconds after that squashed the comeback chances.
"Mikaela really attacked in the box," Kobylinski said.
A final non-conference tuneup is slated for 5 p.m. Tuesday at A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex against Bethany Lutheran College awaits the Dutch.
"The Mount Mercy (loss early in the week) really challenged us," Kobylinski said. "We learned some things about ourselves. If we can replicate the second half of tonight's match, we're going to win a lot of games."
