Second half breakthrough keeps win streak alive

SIOUX CITY, IA - Recovering from a scoreless first 45 minutes, Morningside College's offense went into hyperdrive in the second half of a Great Plains Athletic Conference match Wednesday, Nov. 4.

A solid effort in goal from Northwestern College sophomore goalkeeper Kalein Alons kept the home team frustrated scoreboard-wise early. She repelled three Mustangs' on-frame tries in the first half to send the two sides to the break at 0-0.

Head coach Tom Maxon's squad continued chipping away at the stingy Red Raiders defense and finally broke through in the early in the second half. Senior midfielder Oceanna Brenden (SR/Rapid City, SD) (Rapid City, S.D.) registered the first score, increasing an impressive personal trend of at least one score in three straight matches off a feed from freshman defender/forward Jil Hellerforth (FR/Luedensheid, Germany) (Luedensheid, Germany) at 60:15. Less than eight minutes later, junior midfielder Makenzie Homan (JR/Omaha, Neb.) (Omaha, Neb.) came out of a veritable rugby scrum in the box in front of NWC's goal and struck home the second home team goal, the eventual game-winner, off an assist by senior midfielder Jayci Miller (SR/Rapid City, SD) (Rapid City, S.D.).

Senior goalkeeper Alexandra Homan (SR/Omaha, Neb.) (Omaha, Neb.) looked to be on her way in guiding the defense to add to an already large string of better than 300 scoreless minutes by opposing offenses. However, the Red Raiders took advantage of a foul in front of Morningside's goal in the 81^st minute and successfully deposited a penalty kick attempt to make the score 2-1. From that point until the Elwood Olsen Stadium scoreboard clock read four zeroes, Homan and her backfield teammates locked out the remaining NWC tries to preserve the victory.

Brenden's four total shot tries topped a 14-2 team advantage in the category. Senior defender Bailey Powers (SR/Chino Hills, Calif.) (Chino, Calif.) and freshman midfielder Sina Feeser (FR/Heilbronn, Germany) (Heilbronn, Germany) added three each.

Maxon's Mustangs, improving to 7-1-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the conference, upped their win streak to five. They also jumped into second on the league standings behind lone conference unbeaten Briar Cliff University. Morningside continues its week with a trip to the University of Jamestown for a 1 p.m. start Saturday, Nov. 7.

Morningside College sports information intern Reece Hartmann contributed to this story.