Freshman forward Liz Brechtel appeared to be a one woman show in Saluki soccer’s final game of the season against California Baptist University on Nov. 2.

Bretchel scored all three of Southern’s goals in the 3-1 matchup win. Of the three shots the forward took in the matchup, she was able to score on each attempt, giving her a 100% shooting percentage tonight.

On the defensive end of the field, freshman goalkeeper Dariana Mihalache kept the Lancers out of scoring territory.

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Mihalache tallied six saves alone in the first half for SIU and kept the CBU offense scoreless until the second half.

Prior to tonight, the Salukis hadn’t won a game since mid-September. 

Bretchel’s first goal of the game at the 20 minute mark in the first half with an assist from her teammate, fellow freshman forward, Madison Meiring. 

After six minutes had passed and two fouls were called on CBU (13-5-1), Bretchel was back at the goal for her second attempt of the night. She put the ball into the back of the net, this time with an assist from freshman midfielder Madison Bennion. 

The Lancers continued to take shots at the Southern goal, but either missed the attempts or had them intercepted by Mihalache. 

The Salukis were given a corner kick with just over five minutes left to play in the first half and this presented Bretchel with another scoring opportunity.

As the ball entered the cluster of players, the freshman forward was able to get an angle on the ball and sneak it passed the Lancer goalkeeper.

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Bretchel’s third goal set the score to 3-0 and it remained the same entering half time.

In the second half, both teams struggled to gain enough momentum to get shots on goal with there being no shots recorded until the 60 minute mark.

During this time, CBU scored their first goal of the game to bring the score to 3-1.

Both teams took several attempts at the opposing goals, but neither were able to convert them into points on the board.

Bretchel’s strong performance early on was able to sustain the Salukis for the remainder of the game and allowed them to clench the win over the Lancers at 3-1.

In its last half of the season SIU struggled with keeping its opponents from scoring and defending its offensive end of the field, but tonight they held CBU to just one goal. 

Southern (5-10-2) will take the field again next fall to start their second ever collegiate season, hopefully finding a conference to call home.

Sports reporter Tamar Mosby can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.

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