LACEY, Wash. – The Saint Martin's women's soccer team (3-2-1, 1-1 GNAC) made some history during a wet fixture on Saturday afternoon. Amidst the rain and chaos,
Jamine Biava's 52
nd minute goal stood as the winning tally in an exciting 1-0 victory over Central Washington (1-6, 0-2 GNAC). This win snaps a nine-game losing streak for SMU against the Wildcats, and a winless streak of 17 that dates all the way back to 2012.
It was a fairly even affair with the two sides exchanging threatening opportunities throughout the first half.
Faith Hahn Landis came on a provided good spark for the Saints as she launched three shots in only 42 minutes played, two of those shots were on goal.
Inara Lopes and
Payton Aselton provided continual pressure on the Wildcat goalie, but both sides kept it clean through half number one.
Early in the second half,
Rose Ivanis was able to earn a corner in which she took and launched into a dangerous position right around the penalty spot in the box. Biava came flying through to put the perfect finishing touches on the header and slot it in the back of the net.
Over the final stretch of the game, SMU keeper
Flavia Burrell was put under some pressure but dealt with the sloppy playing conditions well. The back line aided her in keeping a clean sheet on the scoreboard as the Saints nearly grabbed another when
Ava Kephart, a regular goalie playing striker, was stopped by a tremendous CWU save.
The Saints stay at home this upcoming week with a battle against defending national champs Western Washington (3-2-2, 1-0-1 GNAC) and north-of-the-border foe Simon Fraser University (2-1-1, 1-1 GNAC) on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
