UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The stretch of six games without allowing a goal has come to an end, but the Saginaw Valley State University women's soccer team pushes their win streak to six and leapfrogs Grand Valley State University for the number one spot in the GLIAC standings. The Cardinals captured the top spot with a 3-1 win at home Sunday afternoon against Purdue Northwest.
A dominating performance for SVSU as they outshot the Pride 29-6 which is a season high for shot attempts passing the 28 against Quincy early in the season. Sara Samolinski opened the scoring with her first of the season in the 16th minute of play. Solana Kelly got a pass through the right side to hit Samolinski in stride. She made her way into the right side of the box and her shot tipped off a defender into the net.
The 1-0 lead held for most of the first half, until Lauryn Tillmon headed a cross into the goal to tie it up with just under five minutes left in the first half. This was the first goal allowed by Saginaw Valley in the last seven games and the last goal that was scored against them was in a 1-1 tie at home against Grand Valley nearly a month ago.
After the half, the Cardinals claimed the one goal advantage again. 15 minutes into the second half, Bri Cobbs crossed a ball from the left side, Campbell Gibson was in position to receive it, but elected to raise her leg over the ball and have it roll to Stephanie Strong just behind her. Strong tapped it into the air and turned and fired the ball into the lower left corner for her fifth goal of the season. Five goals and five assists for Strong has her sitting in second in points in the GLIAC with 15. She also is first in assists with Gibson tied for second with four.
Another top performer this season offensively for SVSU has been Madi Bajis. With four minutes to play in the game, Bajis got a cross from Gibson on the right side. Bajis struck the ball out of mid-air to her right and scored her sixth of the year. That mark has her tied for second in goals in the GLIAC.
With the 3-1 lead, Saginaw Valley closed out strong and improved to 9-2-2 overall and 6-1-2 in the GLIAC, again, good enough for first place. The team is on a six-game win streak and has yet to lose at home with a record at Robert C. Braddock field of 5-0-1 this season.
SVSU women's soccer is back in action Friday as they host Grand Valley State University at 1:00 PM. They also host Davenport Sunday at 1:00 PM for Senior Day.
