The Lady Toppers ran its winning streak to three matches and move to 3-2 on the year as the Colonels dropped to 1-4 on the season.
“This is a great way to start a Western Kentucky-Eastern Kentucky rivalry,” head coach Jason Neidell said. “I’m really proud of the way our kids came out and fought at the beginning of the match and scoring a goal in nine seconds. It was a great effort from a lot of players tonight. We are growing and building as a team and I like where we’re headed.”
Kristin Cocchiarella fed a ball to Kalyn O'Shea that landed past goalkeeper Christina Graul to put WKU up 1-0 just nine seconds in the match. The goal was O'Shea’s first of the season.
The duo of Cocchiarella and Kellie Walker hooked up three times last weekend with Walker assisting on all three goals Cocchiarella scored. The two switched places against Eastern when Cocchiarella added her second assist of the night, this time to Walker. Walker fired the match-winning goal in the 13th minute and put WKU up 2-0.
At halftime Western Kentucky was up two goals and held the Colonels to one shot, while forcing EKU to make seven saves.
The Lady Toppers put the match out of reach in the 62nd minute when WKU got a free kick after an Eastern foul. Jenna Silverberg lined up a 25-yard shot that went just below the crossbar, for her second goal of the year, and gave Western Kentucky a 3-0 lead.
EKU got on the scoreboard in the 81st minute when Sarah Caldon hit Lauren Ismsande for her first goal of the season.
WKU outshot the Colonels 30-6 with 17 Lady Topper shots coming on goal. Western Kentucky was led by Walker after she took seven shots. Morgan Thomas and Courtney Buchanan added four shots each.
Meredith Goodson played the entire match between the posts and made one save.
For Eastern, Allison Gajus and Georgia Koromelas took two shots each. Graul made 14 saves while allowing three goals.
The Lady Toppers will take place in a doubleheader with the men’s team on Sunday. The Hilltoppers get underway against Marshall at 2 p.m. (CDT) while the Lady Toppers will take on Tennessee Tech at 5 p.m. at the WKU Soccer Complex.
