First Half Surge Earns Warriors Win over Northwestern

FREMONT, Neb. – Midland University hosted Northwestern College for a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) matchup on its home turf on a Saturday Night. A first-half surge by the Warriors led to a 4-2 win over the Red Raiders at Heedum Field.

The Warriors' offense came out strong as Chloe Dietz found the feet of Hanna Schimmer who put it through the back of the net in the 2nd minute of the evening contest. Shortly after, Emma Andersen put the ball past the keeper after an assist by Ashley Atkinson in the 16th minute.

Moments later, Schimmer scored her second goal of the game as Atkinson assisted to put the Warriors on top of the Red Raiders 3-0. Midland continued to add pressure as it scored its fourth goal of the game in the 38th minute. Annie Holst collected the ball from a corner and snuck it past the keeper just before the half ended.

After the break, the Red Raiders broke their scoreless stretch with a goal in the 67th minute. They added a second tally to the board off a penalty kick in the 82nd minute, closing out the scoring on the night.

Midland held a substantial lead in shot attempts (21-14) and had the lead in shots on target as well (8-6). Kyla Pires played the full 90 minutes in goal to collect six saves on the night.

"I am really proud of the performance tonight by the girls," commented head coach Cody Bartlow. "We've had a period of time where things haven't really gone our way, and the team's response to the adversity shown to them has been tremendous all week long. They played a great game from the very first whistle and showed our style and our quality. I thought we were going to get a few more in the second half, but Northwestern's keeper made some amazing saves. All in all, I'm really proud of this group and how together they have been through everything."

Midland (7-4-2, 4-2-1 GPAC) will have an extended break before returning to action on home turf against Morningside (6-3-3, 3-2-2 GPAC) next weekend. The conference matchup is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 14 in Fremont.