LACEY, WA — Saint Martin's Women's Soccer (3-13-3, 3-8-3 GNAC) had a strong end to their season with a close road loss to Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and a home victory against Central Washington on Saturday to end their 2024 campaign.
In Nampa, the Saints would show their defensive fortitude after giving up an early 2-0 lead in the sixth minute, with
Flavia Burrell not allowing another Nighthawks goal for the remaining 84 minutes of match time. SMU would close the gap in the 16th minute thanks to a laser from
Hinata Kojima off of a penalty kick to close NNU's lead to just one point, but the Nighthawks' defense would be equally up to the challenge.
Brianna Yamada attempted a shot in the 79th minute that was saved by the goalkeeper which would be SMU's only attempted goal in the second half. NNU would be much more aggressive on offense after halftime and would attempt a handful of shots, but Burrell, combined with the defensive efforts of
Keilee Silva and
Payton Aselton, would snuff out all second-half scoring attempts. Ultimately, the Saints would drop the contest 2-1.
The Women's Soccer team would have a quick turnaround to return home as they hosted the Central Washington Wildcats in their season's final contest. The Saints would start red-hot on offense, with
Eve Charles scoring an unassisted goal in just the sixth minute of the game thanks to some flashy footwork. The Saints would quickly turn down the pace following the early goal, with the rain being a factor, and both defenses would hold strong as the score would remain 1-0 entering the half. This score would hold until the 65th minute, when NNU's Shannah Mellick would strike the corner of the net to even it up at 1-1. The Saints would turn the offense back up with impressive shot attempts across the board as the game continued. In the 83rd minute, senior
Alyssa Carapia would take a shot off a pass from
Taylor Copeland which would find the back of the net for the Saints to take a late 2-1 lead. The energized Saints would prevent one more major push from the Wildcats with a save from
Mallory Patzer who would take over for Burrell for the second half. The Saints would close the season with their first home win of the year against CWU as the final score would remain 2-1.
Saint Martin's Women's Soccer is excited to begin preparations for next year and thanks you for the support all season long.
