Southern Illinois’ Women’s Soccer team (0-1-1) dropped their first home game of the season against the Missouri-Kansas City Roos (1-1) in which they scored their first two goals of the season.

The Salukis led the Roos in shots 11-9, but allowed UMKC to lead them in shots on goal 5-4. The Salukis also allowed five corner kicks by the Roos and didn’t have any for themselves.

Junior forward Emma Spotak and freshman midfielder Ashley Scesniak had one goal each today, giving the Salukis their first taste at a lead so far this season. Junior forward Liz Brechtel and junior midfielder Kaitlin Ducharme joined Spotak and Scesniak for most shots with two shots each.

Forward Kassi Ginther, a graduate student, led the offense of the Roos for the day with two goals on three shots, leading them in both categories. Ginther had the game tying goal fifteen minutes into the second half. Sophomore midfielder Rileigh Kuhns also had one goal, the game winner with less than twenty one minutes left of the contest, assisted by senior forward Emily Jensen.

Junior goalkeeper Maddy Alaluf and freshman goalkeeper Natasha Richardson each had two saves each. Alaluf allowed three goals out of nine shots faced, while Richardson allowed two goals off eleven shots faced.Spotak kicked things off early on for the Salukis with a goal in the first four minutes of action.

The Saluki defense held things together for most of the first half to keep the lead, up until Ginther tied things up with less than eleven minutes left of the first half. The first half ended with a score of 1-1.

The Roos outshot the Salukis 6-4 in the first half, with two from Ginther and freshman forward Meghan White.

The second half started off hot once again for the Saluki offense. They mustered 6 shots in the first thirteen minutes of play back from the break, including Scesniak’s goal. However, the Salukis couldn’t hang onto the 2-1 lead, allowing Ginther to tie the game less than nine minutes later. Kuhns broke the tie less than ten minutes later.

Junior defender Sam Dejulio unfortunately went down with a leg injury about 20 minutes into the second half. She was able to walk off the field with help luckily, and re-entered the game once again after a fourteen minute absence.

A last minute push by the Salukis failed to tie the game up late at three each. Brechtel had a shot on goal with less than two minutes left, but Richardson saved the shot and the Roos held on for the 3-2 win.

The Salukis continue their season next thursday, looking for their first win of the season in a road trip to Vanderbilt University in Nashville Tennessee, with a 7 p.m scheduled kick-off.

Sports reporter Joseph Bernard can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter at @jojobernard2001

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