After the first two-thirds of their game against Ohio Christian, the women’s soccer team faced a harsh reality: you have to play how you practice, eventually.

For the past few weeks, the Pioneers were practicing, as per usual. Throughout the season, head coach Bethanie Moreschi had her team working on multiple facets of the game, whether that be the basics, or capitalizing on scoring opportunities.

Lately, however, the focus has shifted away from the norm; as of late, Moreschi has had her team trying to perfect the way they play in the final 30 minutes of the game.

“We have been focusing quite a bit of time on final third attacks during training sessions which has really helped,” senior Bailey Boyd said.

In their matchups against Washington Adventist and Ohio Christian, the practice had begun to pay off. Most particularly against the latter.

“I believe that they were what really helped us dominate the majority of the game,” Boyd said. “We were able to possess the ball and actually get some really good looks on net.”

When Point Park took to Highmark Stadium to face off against Washington Adventist, for the second time this season in a non-conference game, the work was just as handy, for different, yet similar reasons.

After beating the Washington Adventist Shock 3-1 previously, in what was the Pioneers’ first win of the season, Point Park looked to show off their prowess once again.

Ten minutes into the game, senior Chloe Bowser took a corner. Fellow senior Gabby Widman took advantage of the opportunity and buried her second goal of the season.

“Getting that first goal in any game is important. It allows us to gain momentum early on in the game,” Widman said. “This also gives us confidence knowing that we can play with these teams. All of the teams that we play are good teams and they always challenge us to be at our best and knowing that we can put a ball in the back of the net early on pushes us to keep fighting to score more than just one.”

The Pioneers did indeed fight for more, however Shock forward Ariella Amaguana sent a 35 yard shot into the back of the net to tie the game in the 24th minute.

The rest of the first half saw no scoring from either side. The second half played out the same until the final 30 minutes where Point Park played how they practiced. 

In the 67th minute, Boyd put one in the back of the net to give the home team the lead, one  which they would not surrender.

Sophomore Taylor Goldstrohm and junior Brooke Doran each scored to give the Pioneers a 4-1 win over the Shock.

For a team that struggled to start the season, the experience and time had started to take into effect.

“I think since we were deeper into the season, we weren’t as panicked playing so we were able to have more composure in front of the net,” Bowser said. “We had more experience playing together and I think being able to connect more passes it really helped.”

Later in the week, Bowser and the Pioneers took to Ohio to face the Ohio Christian Trailblazers for a River States Conference (RSC) game.

If the scoresheet could speak for itself, it would have little to say offensively. At least, that is, for the first two-thirds of the game.

Once again the Pioneers’ practice had paid off. With the game locked at zero, Boyd and Goldstrohm both lit the lamp with goals in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Point Park left Ohio with a 2-0 victory over the Trailblazers, giving the Pioneers their first multi-game winning streak of the season.

However, there is still work to be done. Moreschi and her team would much rather prefer they capitalize on their chances sooner, rather than later, with that later being the final-thirds of games.

“I think [scoring/capitalizing on chances is] something that is improving and we can continue to work on as a group,” Moreschi said. “We still left a lot of goals out there on the field that we can’t afford to leave in future games.”

The Pioneers, who are 2-2-1 in RSC play and sit at No. 6 in the conference at the time of publication, will have only one game in the coming week, for the first time this season. 

Point Park will take on the 0-1-4 Carlow Celtics in another first of the season.