Vikings lunged into an attacking stance minutes into the game, a strong start leading to their win against the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks, 3-1, at Robert S. Harrington Field on Thursday night. Midfielder Mie Cairns scored a goal within the first few minutes of the women’s soccer match.
The Vikings opened the game on an attack, as Cairns scored one goal, assisted by defenders Emily Rice and Olivia Connell three minutes into the game. The strong start to the game gave traction to the team's winning streak in front of 201 fans on their home field.
The Vikings continued their attack with a combined free kick shot by Rice and senior midfielder Morgan Manalili, followed by a goal by forward Claire Potter on the lower right of the field, assisted by Rice and Connell.
“I mean, our set pieces were awesome today,” said Assistant Coach Jamie Arthurs. “We scored, I think all three of them were off of set pieces, corner kicks, and an elbow restart. So it's exciting when we get to practice those a lot, and when we get to actually execute and score some goals on those, those are pretty impactful.”
Late in the first half of the game, freshman forward Alina Kravtsov slotted the ball in the lower left of the field just a minute after entering the game, with an assisted corner serve from midfielder Abby Succi.
This marks the second goal of the season for Kravtsov, who’s a longtime Bellingham resident and graduate of Sehome High School.
The goal secured the Vikings 3-0 by the game's halftime.
“Our pressure can turn over teams and create mayhem on the field,” said Arthurs. “We knew it was going to take not just one or two players playing well. It's got to be the impact of the entire group.”
At half-time, Sehome’s Unified Soccer team, led by coach Don Helling, took the field for a 10-minute match. Before halftime, the team showed support for Western’s soccer team by cheering them on from the stands.
The team continued to put pressure on the Nighthawks and play a strong defense throughout the second half of the game.
A few minutes into the second half of the game, the Vikings opened with another attack with two shots from forward players Emily Holdridge and Manalili – both were blocked. The Nighthawks followed this with scoring one goal of their own.
“I think once they got that goal, they had a lot of momentum after that,” Connell said. “After that, we’d made sure the backline talked a lot and not to give them any more chances.”
For the remaining 35 minutes of the game, the Vikings held strong, upped their attack, and the defense left no room for the Nighthawks to score.
Once again, the Vikings made a shot lower right of the field by Potter, saved by goalkeeper Alex Barrass. The Vikings followed this with another shot by forward Triya Mitchell that was eventually blocked.
“I thought it was a fun game. I thought we had a lot of possession. We were able to turn the corners, which is really fun as a forward or a winger. That's normally what I go in as,” said forward player, Emily Fojo. “It's really fun when you can get around their center back and get into the corner because it really creates a lot of opportunity to get across or a corner, which is where we normally excel in the game.”
The Vikings are now on a five-game win streak.
“I think our mindset was to instill doubt right from the get-go in this game because last time we played them, we did well,” Fojo said. “Obviously, they were going to come in and they were going to play hard and try and prove us wrong, but we wanted to show them that we're ready for a challenge and we're ready to play.”
The next game for the Vikings will be against Simon Fraser University, Saturday, Oct. 18, at 6:00 p.m. at Terry Fox Field in Burnaby, B.C.
“It's great to get a win, but it's really exciting when you get to be a part of a game where everyone has a piece to give,” Arthurs said. “So, you got to see our bench come in and impact the game, and different goal scorers, and a really good team victory for us.”
Katherine Konicke-Dunlop (she/her) is a Sports and Recreation reporter for The Front. She is in her second year at Western, majoring in News and Editorial Journalism. Katherine can be spotted out hiking or with her eyes glued to a book in her spare time. You can reach her at katherinekonickedunlop.thefront@gmail.com.
