Boxscore
All Mia Tofano had to do was get open. Her teammates did the rest.
The University of Evansville senior scored the first two goals of the match and UE eventually built a 4-0 lead at Black Beauty Field Friday night on its way to a 5-2 women's soccer victory over Wright State. Friday's match was the first of the season for both teams, and the head coaching debut for Evansville's Krista McKendree.
"The girls were really ready to play; they were very dynamic in the first half," McKendree said. "We had about a 10-minute lull in the second half and Wright State exposed that because they came back on us and got two quick goals. But I thought we bounced back well in the final 15 minutes. We need to cut down on the amount of time we're out of rhythm, but all in all, it was a good start for us."
Kayla Lambert delivered the first pin-point pass to Tofano, finding her directly in front of the Wright State goal at 14:02 to give the Aces a 1-0 lead. Then it was Colleen Marty's turn to set up Tofano. The freshman fed a perfect ball to Tofano on the right side, and her 12-yard blast put Evansville ahead 2-0. The Aces went up 3-0 at 36:05 on Julie Winkler's goal, and took a 4-0 lead less than one minute into the second half on Lambert's first goal.
Wright State didn't quit, scoring at 68:37 on Amy Miller's penalty kick following obstruction in the box. Sara Palermo followed at 69:32 to put the Raiders within striking distance at 4-2, but Lambert put the match away at the 88:15 mark when she hooked a shot into the top left corner past Wright State keeper Meghan Hackerson. Lambert's five points on Friday give her 101 career points, and move her to within five points of Krissy Meek Engelbrecht's school record of 106.
Both teams finished with 16 shots. Wright State put eight on goal but Theresa Bagby made six saves for the Aces. Hackerson stopped two of Evansville's seven shots on goal.
The Aces are off until next Friday, when they play at Virginia Tech.
