UNIVERSITY CENTER - The Saginaw Valley State University kept the great start to the 2014 season going, as the Lady Cardinals completed a weekend sweep after a 3-0 victory over the Lake Erie College Storm on Sunday afternoon (10/5). SVSU posted a 2-1 win over Ashland on Friday to get things started.
The sixth shutout of the season keeps the #18-ranked SVSU squad unbeaten with a 7-0-2 record for the 2014 season and a 5-0-1 record in the GLIAC. That marks the best start in program history and the first time a team has gone unbeaten through nine matches as well.
The first Saginaw goal of the match came at the 11:58 mark when Presley Tibbetts attacked and flipped a pass over the Lake Erie goakeeper's head to Shelby Watts, who slid and kicked it between the posts for the 1-0 lead and her second goal of the season.
That 1-0 Cardinal advantage carried into the halftime break, as SV got-off six shots compared to a pair for the Storm.
Watts would return the favor fresh into the second half (49:30) when she hit Tibbetts on a similar play and she found the back of the net to extend the lead out to 2-0. It was Tibbetts's first goal of the 2014 season.
Not long after that, Ashley Henderson would score her team-leading fifth goal off a feed from Jaclyn Zembrodt to make the score 3-0 at the 57:06 mark.
That's what the score would remain throughout, as SVSU goalkeeper Claire Spleth posted her sixth shutout and made four saves against the Storm. The Cardinals have a GLIAC-leading 0.32 goals-against-average and were sixth in all of Division II with a mark of 2.69 heading into weekend play.
"It was another good win for the team and another solid performance," stated Head Coach Michael O'Neill. "Defensively, we were strong from start to finish. It was also great to see the attacking players step-up and take their chances."
Saginaw Valley remains at home when it hosts Ferris State University on Friday (10/10) in a match at 1:00 pm. The teams met earlier this year on September 14th and played to a 1-1 tie in a non-conference game.
