Photo by Maria Porter
Not even chilly conditions could prevent the Butler women’s soccer team from taking down Youngstown State Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (7-5-1, 2-1-0) triumphed 2-1 over the Penguins (3-6-2, 0-1-1) for their second straight conference win.
“If you score early, that may change the way they are going to play,” Butler head coach Tari St. John said.
Butler flexed its offensive muscles early, scoring five minutes into the game on a 25-yard strike from junior forward Katie Griswold.
The goal was Griswold’s team-leading fifth this season.
After being staked to an early lead, Butler kept up the pressure, both on offense and defense.
The Bulldogs outshot the Penguins 13-1 in the opening half, which ultimately led to another Butler goal.
The strike came from freshman defenseman Kelly Mahoney, who buried the ball in the back of the net off of a corner kick in the 38th minute to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage.
The second goal proved to be valuable insurance for Butler. Youngstown State freshman forward Jade Flory provided a goal for the Penguins in the 63rd minute to pull within one.
The Bulldogs outshot the Penguins 18-5 on the afternoon. Freshman forward Elise Kotsakis led the way with five shots.
“The game had a lot of variables like the bad weather and a different field than what we are used to,” Kotsakis said. “The one thing we did was make sure we played a 90 minute game and kept our lead.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Julie Burton got her fourth start of the season in net for the Bulldogs and notched her third win of the season.
Butler also was in action on Thursday when it hosted its second night match in less than a week. This one was against non-conference rival Xavier.
The game went into double overtime and eventually ended in a 2-2 tie, giving the Bulldogs their first draw of the season.
Butler started the game strong, breaking out to a 2-0 lead before halftime.
The Musketeers (6-4-1) were able to pull closer in the second half when senior forward Jessica Brooks scored in the 69th minute.
Xavier then came up with the equalizer late in the contest when junior defenseman Brooke Eberly scored in the 86th minute.
The game would remain deadlocked until the final whistle at the end of the second overtime period.
While the game will go down as a tie, the statistics will show that the Bulldogs were the aggressors, holding a 23-13 advantage in shots.
The Bulldogs will take the pitch again today when they host Cleveland State (7-4-1, 0-2-1) at 3:30 p.m. for another Horizon League showdown.
