30 minutes into their second game of River States Conference (RSC) action, the women’s soccer team found themselves down 2-0. Sophomore forward Taylor Goldstrohm made it her mission to try and change that.

Goldstrohm was already having a career week. Last season Goldstrohm, then a freshman tallied three goals for six points. This year, Goldstrohm finds herself setting new career totals with three goals and two assists for eight points. The majority of those stats came this past week.

The women’s soccer team began RSC play, squaring off against two Indiana University teams: IU Kokomo and IU East. Both games were played at the Montour Junction Sports Complex, instead of the usual Highmark Stadium.

The change in venue did not matter for the Pioneers. Eight minutes into their game against IU Kokomo, Bailey Boyd opened the scoring for the Pioneers, capitalizing on a pass from Goldstrohm.

“It put us in a position we had not been in for the past couple of games where we were trying to catch up to the other team,” Boyd said.

Almost halfway through the first half, Goldstrohm created separation from the defense and buried her second goal of the season, her first of the day.

The second half was no different. With a focus on defense, the Pioneers kept the Cougars’ shots to a minimum. In the 77th minute, Goldstrohm showed off her playmaking ability and threaded the needle with a pass to fellow sophomore forward Tia Horew to give Point Park the 3-0 lead.

With five shots on goal for the Cougars, Ashtyn Webb picked up her first shutout of the season, giving the Pioneers a 1-0 RSC record and their second win of conference play.

IU East proved to be a tougher task for Point Park.

After the first 20 minutes, the Red Wolves struck first. Just two minutes later, IU East found another hole in the defense and scored the second goal of the game.

“A two goal lead is one of the worst leads to have in soccer, so I think that we really needed to be the ones who scored next in order to stay in the game,” Goldstrohm said. “I pushed up high and saw an opportunity for a long ball. I was playing in the mid so I know they weren’t expecting me to be up there. Chloe [Bowser] saw me and played me a perfect bouncing ball, so I just tried to get any sort of touch on the ball into the gap to get past the defenders.”

Once she had a one-on-one opportunity against goalkeeper Gabby Mitchum, Goldstrohm shot the ball towards the far corner, scoring her third goal of the season.

“With the score being 2-1, we were right back in it. It was anybody’s game again,” Goldstrohm said. “It was really in our hands to take that momentum to get another one back, but it unfortunately didn’t work out like that.”

Six minutes later, IU East responded and took their second lead of the game.

With two additional goals in the second half, the Pioneers fell to IU East 5-1. At the time of publication, Point Park’s 1-1 RSC record puts them No. 4 in the RSC.

“I feel that there are things I can still be doing as a coach to get us to the point where we can play IU East and come out on top,” head coach Bethanie Moreschi said. “I’m impressed by my teams ability to put up a hard fight for 90 minutes.”

The Pioneers will be back in action later this week, traveling to both Midway and Asbury for two RAC matchups before coming home on Monday to host non-conference opponent Washington Adventist.