SAN FRANCISCO – The Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team took on San Francisco State on Thursday afternoon, as a late game-winner from Moira MacKay helped the Falcons outlast the Gators 1-0.
The Falcons applied pressure to the Gators throughout Thursday's contest. The winning moment came in the 81st minute. Taylor Krueger had the ball in the middle of the field in a one-on-one situation with the SFSU keeper. The keeper came at Krueger, trying to take the ball away outside of the 18-yard box. The ball skipped away from Krueger and to the feet of MacKay. MacKay finished the play with a game-winning goal for the Falcons.
"It was a grind today," head coach Arby Busey said. "Very hard-fought win! We expected a challenging game, and we got what we expected for sure. We were much better defensively than we were in our previous games, our group was connected and worked their socks off to earn the shutout."
Landry Schoennauer checked a milestone off her SPU list by collecting her first shutout of the season. She played 90 minutes, faced just two shots, and was forced into making one massive save.
Schoennauer's signature save from the match came in the middle of the first half. SF State's Samantha Shim sent a shot that was smothered by Schoennauer. The crucial save kept the game tied 0-0.
"It was a total team effort defensively for 90 minutes," Busey said. "Today was great for Landry. She was excellent again today and deserved the shutout. It is great for us to have fought that hard to get a result. We grew today, and we will be better moving forward."
SPU created several chances throughout the game against SFSU. The Falcons had six shots to just two from the Gators. The visitors had four shots on goal that nearly broke the scoreless tie.
A flurry of major chances came in the second half. Mia Mahaffey booted one toward the lower right corner that was saved. In the 56th minute, Snedeker sent in a low shot that was blacked by the Gators, keeping the match scoreless. With 10 minutes left, Krueger ripped a shot that missed just above the bar.
Coming up next, the Falcons travel north for a match against Chico State on Saturday at 7 p.m.
