Darian Murdock scored two goals and assisted on another to help lead Dixie State’s women’s soccer team to a convincing 4-0 result at Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday afternoon at Koret Field. The victory snapped the Trailblazers’ two-match losing streak as DSU improved to 7-3-0 overall, 3-2-0 in Pacific West Conference play.
Dixie State on the board with 2:48 to play in the first half when Montana Hadley played a free kick to the center of the box, which was deflected by Tana Singley to Murdock, who tucked in her ninth goal of the season to spot her side a 1-0 advantage.
The Trailblazers erupted for three second-half goals, the first coming on a Murdock feed to Singley (two), who blasted home a shot from the top of the box midway through the 54th minute to extend the DSU lead to 2-0. Murdock (10) then added her second goal of 14 minutes later, which was set up by a Brooklyn Vogelsberg cross, and Jill Bennett (two) struck for a breakaway goal thanks to a Tori Page pass through the Argonaut defense late in the 82nd minute.
“It was nice to bounce back with a big win today,” DSU head coach Kacey Bingham said. “We looked sharp and were playing great combination play. It’s always nice to get a shutout and we needed that today. Everyone got their job done.”
DSU outshot NDNU (6-5, 3-3 PacWest) by a 17-11 count, including a 7-4 edge on goal. Sophomore netminder Felicity Tarr (W, 6-3-0) made four saves on the day to earn her fourth shutout win of the year.
Singley’s first-half assist, her eighth of the year, pulled her into a tie atop DSU’s single-season assists list with former DSU standout Jasmine Arollo, who recorded eight assists in both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Meanwhile, Murdock’s first-half goal was her 11th career game-winning goal, which moved her into tied for second on DSU’s career GWG list (Jennifer Mason, 2011-14).
Dixie State continues its four-game Bay Area road swing Monday at Dominican University.
Steve Johnson is the Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations and Collegiate Licensing at Dixie State University. For more DSU Athletics news, please visit www.dixieathletics.com and follow Dixie State on Twitter at @DixieAthletics.