Gorloks Win to Grab Share of Regular Season Title
Webster University Women's Soccer extended its streak of consecutive regular-season St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles to eight here late Saturday afternoon thanks to a goal with 14 seconds left in regulation to from senior forward Melissa Kasper (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) to seal the Gorloks 1-0 victory over Greenville University at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.
Kasper's goal, which off a pass from sophomore midfielder Julia Paradise (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North), gave the Gorloks a win over the Panthers and also the No. 1 seed in next week's SLIAC Tournament. Webster will open the SLIAC Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. at World Wide Technology Soccer Park against No. 4 seeded Westminster (Mo.) College, who played to a 0-0 draw in double overtime during the regular season with the Gorloks on Oct. 16.
With the win, Webster improves to 13-4-1 overall and 7-1-1 in the league, while Greenville, who earned a share the regular-season title with the Gorloks, falls to 10-6-2 overall and 7-1-1 in the league. The Panthers are the No. 2 seed in the SLIAC Tournament and will face No. 3 seeded Fontbonne at home on Thursday.
Along with winning its eighth consecutive SLIAC regular-season title, Webster also earned its 15th all-time regular-season league title in the 21-year history of the program.
In Saturday's match, the Gorloks held a 21-7 edge in shots and an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal, including a 14-3 edge on shots in the first half.
Kasper's game-winning goal, which was the ninth of her career, was her 13th goal this season and 47th of her career, which is sixth on the school's all-time list. In addition, the two points for the goal pushed her career total to 148, which is fourth on the school's career chart.
In the first half, the Panthers appeared poised to score in the 31st minute, but a shot by Ellie Cummins appeared headed into the net, but Gorlok freshman goalkeeper Taryn Banfield (Plano, Texas/Plano East) saved the ball to keep the match scoreless. The save was one of three in the match for Banfield, who improved to 12-3-1 on the season and posted her ninth shutout of the season on Saturday.
Sophomore forward Jordan Lande (Sachse, Texas/Sachse) paced Webster's offense with six shots and had two shots on goal, while Kasper had five shots and three shots on goal and senior midfielder Savannah Page (Sandy, Utah/Jordan) added four shots, all of which were on goal.
For the match, seven Gorloks took at least one shot and five of those seven players recorded a shot on goal.
Jordan Wilson and Molly McDonnell each had two shots for the Panthers in the loss.
Marjory Coastes (7-6-2) took the loss in net for Greenville as she recorded 10 saves, including seven saves in the first half and allowed just Kasper's goal.
Webster also had a 6-0 edge in corner kicks and two teams were each whistled for 13 fouls.
