WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace's women's soccer team used a first-half goal to defeat Huntington 1-0 on Saturday.
The Lancers controlled the match with an 18-2 shot advantage at 1st Source Bank Field. Grace owned a massive percentage of possession as well, limiting the Foresters to a handful of chances during the match.
Sam Vondersaar had the game-winning moment, finishing an assist from Cassidy Felger in the 22nd minute.
The win also moves Grace into a strong position to secure a spot in the Crossroads League Tournament. Grace has two matches remaining next week, including the home finale on Wednesday versus Goshen at 7 p.m.
As the first half continued, Grace's hold on the match strengthened. Grace took the first three shot attempts across the opening 15 minutes.
Midway into the half, Grace seemed to be in the driver's seat. The Lancers' possession kept the Foresters pinned into their defensive half of the field.
In the 22nd minute, Grace found the breakthrough moment. Felger made a dangerous dribble toward the top of Huntington's penalty box. After drawing defenders, Felger slipped a pass into the box, connecting with Vondersaar who finished her shot cleanly around the goalkeeper.
The Lancers tried five more shots before halftime and went into halftime with a 1-0 lead. Grace had nine shots in the half, limiting the Foresters to one deep shot attempt from near the midfield stripe.
Grace pressed hard for an insurance goal to begin the second half. The Lancers sent wave after wave of attacks on the Foresters' end of the field. Gefrorer tried a few shots, one of which was saved.
But the Foresters managed to hold Grace's goal tally to one, keeping the match alive.
With 16 minutes to play, Lilli Oberhoff shot twice in the span of a minute. Both of her shots seemed to have a chance to score, but each time Huntington's goalkeeper parried the high shot above the crossbar.
Five minutes later, Felger had a shot blocked after a quick counterattack by Grace.
Grace thought it had a second goal in the closing minutes after a well-worked advance. But Abby Hodkin's curving shot resulted in a diving save by a fully extended goalkeeper.
The Foresters tried to generate an equalizer, throwing a few long balls into Grace's penalty box. But Grace's defending kept the Foresters off the scoreboard for the full 90 minutes.
Sofia Williams only needed to make one save to record the shutout. She was protected by stout defending from Jasmin Slump, Megan DeBoest, Elizabeth Maciejewski and Leah Burke.
Grace had nine more shots to go along with six corner kicks after halftime; the Foresters had one shot and a corner in the final 45 minutes.
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