The Women’s soccer team continued their dominant conference play last week, defeating River State Conference (RSC) rivals WVU Tech, 4-0, on Thursday, October 20, and the University of Rio Grande, 5-0, on Saturday, October 22. The Pioneers now stand at 8-6-1, and 7-0-1 in conference play. The wins keep Point Park tied for first in the RSC, alongside Indiana University-Kokomo. The wins also help Point Park hold top in the Standings no matter the results of their next two matches. 

“Playoffs are most definitely in the team’s vision as well as ideally winning them,” said junior goalkeeper Ella Serlin. “We play each game like it’s our last, and we go in with a strong level of compete.” 

Game one was a weekday match up against the Golden Bears, with most of the offense showing up a little later in the contest for the Pioneers in the victory. But that wouldn’t stop junior forward Chanell Britten from finding the first goal of the match quickly, scoring on a header before the five minute mark thanks to a pass off the foot of freshman defender Mireya Rojas. With a 1-0 lead, neither team would be able to find the back of the net for the rest of the first half, but Point Park did keep the pressure rolling with 14 shots in the first half, with six landing on goal. The second half would once again be all Point Park, with junior defender Athena Beck finding a goal with a crossing shot that was able to get through in the 55th minute to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead. Keeping WVU Tech’s offense down the entire contest, Rojas would find a goal of her own in the 72nd minute off the crossing pass from freshman middle Jurnee Durrett-Finney. An own goal in the 80th minute to help propel Point Park to a 4-0 lead, which they would be able to shut down the Golden Bears for the rest of the match to finish up the shutout. 

The Pioneers’ offense was on full display on Thursday, pouring on 23 shots to go with 13 on goal. WVU Tech would only be able to find eight shots to go with five on goal. Britten would lead the offense for Point Park, firing off six shots, with five landing on goal to match her goal. Serlin would get the five save shutout. 

Game two would be just as dominant for the Pioneers over the Red Storm on Senior day. The offense wouldn’t be as early as Thursday’s contest, but Britten would continue to put up points, scoring her second in two games with a goal off a double header from teammates senior middle Elisa Ferrer and forward Holly Pascoe in the 17th minute. Pascoe would find her own right before the 32nd minute, scoring off a corner kick to make it 2-0 before the end of the first half. Neither team would be able to get the offense generated for some time, until Pascoe was able to break through once again, this time in the second half. In the 62nd minute, Pascoe found her second of the game off the through pass from Ferrer, making it 3-0 in favor of Point Park. Five minutes later, Beck would find her first of the match, a penalty kick that would help give the Pioneers a 4-0 lead. In the 73rd minute, Beck collected her second goal of the game, and third in the last two matches, a shot from 30 yards out that she would nail to give Point Park their final goal of the contest, and helped shutdown the Rio Grande offense to give Point Park the 5-0 win.

Point Park fired off 14 shots in the contest, putting 10 on net, compared to the Red Storms’ eight shots, only getting six on net. Britten once again led in shots for Point Park, taking four and landing two on net. Pascoe would take three shots, with all three landing on net, to tie for the lead in goals alongside Beck with two. Serlin once again picked up the shutout with six saves for back to back. 

The team will look towards their final week of the regular season this week, taking on the third placed team in the RSC in Oakland City University on Thursday, October 27th, in Oakland City, Indiana. The final game of the regular season will be a road trip to Kokomo, Indiana, where the Pioneers will take on IU-Kokomo on Saturday, October 29th, in a game that will decide first place in the RSC. The playoff schedule for the RSC will be released later this week. Check Point Park’s Athletics website for more information later this week.