Dixie State’s women’s soccer team remained unbeaten in Pacific West Conference play after posting a hard-fought 2-0 result over Biola on Saturday morning at Legend Solar Stadium.
Montana Hadley got the Trailblazers (6-1-0, 2-0-0 PacWest) on the board late in the ninth minute of play when she caught the Eagles (4-1-0, 0-1-0 PacWest) flat-footed on a corner kick chance and bent the attempt into the net for the game’s first goal.
Dixie State held the one-goal advantage for most of the second half, though the Trailblazers had several good looks to add an insurance goal in the stanza. In the 70th minute, Darian Murdock had a header chance blocked by an Eagle defender, while Alexa Estridge had a pair of shots stopped by Biola keeper Christina Rodriguez.
The Trailblazers finally broke through in the 84th minute when Tana Singley blasted a corner kick to the center of the box that was headed over by Estridge to Bailey Kroll (two), who tucked in a header just past Rodriguez to spot DSU a two-goal lead.
The DSU defense played a stout 90 minutes as the Trailblazers held off eight Biola corner kick chances and limited the Eagles to just 10 shot attempts, four on frame. DSU netminder Felicity Tarr (W, 5-1-0) made four saves, but none were bigger than a diving stop on a Samantha Verduzco blast from 12 yards out in the 63rd minute to preserve DSU’s lead.
“This game was a great test for us and a good battle. It was a great overall team win,” DSU head coach Kacey Bingham said. “We talked about our disappointment on corner kicks in our last game [vs. Chaminade on Thursday] and the team responded well today. Our defense was amazing today. Kiley Lamb had an all-star game in the midfield and backline.”
Dixie State finished with 22 shots, 11 on goal, with Estridge accounting for four of the total attempts, while Kroll was credited with three shots on goal.
Dixie State continues its five-match homestand this Tuesday, Sept. 26, with a PacWest test against Hawai’i Pacific at 4:30 p.m.
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.