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The Miners opened up the game with two locker room goals in the first nine minutes. The Miners went against the Cardinals on Sept. 8 and came on top with a 3-0 win.
Freshman Vic Bohdan was the player of the night adding to her series of standout performances as a first-year player. The Calgary, Alberta Canada native had four shots on target, netting her first two goals of the season.
At the sixth minute mark, Bohdan picked up the ball in the box and dribbled around to bury it into the net.
“It was pretty awesome. To have that first goal just to fire everything up was amazing,” Bohdan said.
Freshman midfielder, Anna Jimmerson picked up the second goal when she shot a loose ball in the box (9’).
Coach Kevin Cross recognized the improvement from the start of the season, having gone 0-5 before they finally won last week against Idaho State. However, he didn’t take the loss as a defeat, given that the majority of their previous matches went into overtime.
“We just kept battling and we knew we would turn. We’ve got a lot of character on this team and its young. They didn’t have a lot of college experience, most of our players. We knew it would turn,” Cross said.
Bohdan notes team communication as the key to their recent success.
“I think we’re playing as a team more. We’re passing the ball around more, pushing it around, going diagonal,” Bohdan said.
Senior midfielder Devyn Hunley put up an impressive attempt on goal (22’) but missed by an inch as the ball hit the crossbar.
Despite taking an early lead, the first half featured still a statistically competitive game. The Miners shot on goal four times, while the Cardinals tested junior goalkeeper Alyssa Palacios three times.
Another area of improvement for the Miners was the defense. Incarnate Word did not threaten UTEP’s goal in the first 14 minutes of the second half.
They also improved their ball retention, distributing the ball better and dominating in possession.
The third goal came at minute 28 via a rocket strike from Bohdan with the ball bouncing into the goal after hitting the crossbar.
Next, the Miners will face the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks at University Field on Sept. 10. The game is slated to start at noon.
[arve url=”https://youtu.be/U1zKj9kL1cI” title=”UTEP Soccer secures second win in a row against UIW” autoplay=”yes” /]
