Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Powered by two goals and an assist from redshirt-senior forward Mallory Outerbridge, the WKU soccer team defeated the Belmont Bruins 4-0 Friday night at the WKU Soccer Complex. Outerbridge became the fifth different Lady Topper in program history to record five points in a single match.
"We've been working all week in practice about getting out there, being physical, and just working as hard as we can," said Outerbridge, whose career goals tally now stands at 29. "That's what happened tonight. The passes were there. I give credit to everyone else, I couldn't have done that without them."
WKU (4-2) struck first in the sixth minute when Outerbridge weaved through defenders and scored inside the six-yard box to give the Lady Toppers a 1-0 lead. Outerbridge found the net again less than five minutes later, as sophomore defender Katrina Ott played a ball from the Lady Toppers' side of midfield to Outerbridge who shot the ball from the top of the 18-yard box and beat Belmont goalkeeper Nicole Berner to put WKU ahead 2-0. The redshirt-senior forward almost had the natural hat trick in the first half, but her shot in the 17th minute was cleared off the goal line by a Belmont defender. Belmont (2-4) controlled possession late in the first half but shots by Danielle Stolt and Spencer Laufer were stopped easily by WKU goalkeeper Libby Stout. The Lady Toppers outshot the Bruins 8-2 in the first half, with six shots on goal.
"It was really a fantastic individual effort from Mallory on both goals," said head coach Jason Neidell. "We talked in pregame about going at their backs hard and fast and she took it upon herself to do that. It's a pretty fantastic individual effort."
Just as they started the first half, WKU scored early in the second half. Nice passing from Torrie Lange and Outerbridge set up midfielder Courtney Rymer for a goal from eight yards out, making the score 3-0 4:27 into the second half. In the 53rd minute, Kelsey Meyer played a ball through to freshman forward Leslie Chinn who beat the charging Belmont goalkeeper to put the Lady Toppers ahead 4-0 and WKU would cruise from there for their fourth win of the season.
"It's fantastic for us to score four goals, especially with the number of chances we created," said Neidell following Friday's match. "We didn't really create as many chances as we would like. I think the bigger thing is figuring out a way to create more opportunites to score, because as we get down the road we're going to need more chances to score even one or two goals in a game."
WKU outshot Belmont 12-5 for the match, putting nine shots on goal. Stout and Katlyn Barnes teamed up for the Lady Toppers' second clean sheet of the season, the first since the season-opening 1-0 overtime win over Western Carolina on August 19. With the win, Stout ties Meredith Goodson for the WKU all-time lead in goalkeeper wins.
The Lady Toppers conclude their current homestand Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. match against Mid-American Conference opponent Eastern Michigan.
