St. Bonifacius, MN – If there were any cobwebs on the bleachers at Old National Bank Stadium after a long summer, they were shaken off in a big way on Friday night. The Crown College Women's Soccer Team was the first team to compete at Old National Bank Stadium since last fall and the Polars opened up the 2024 fall with a thrilling match against Augsburg University. The visiting Auggies scored late to sneak past the Polars 1-0.
In front of a raucous opening night crowd (Polar nation was clearly itching to get back into the bleachers after a long summer at the beach, cabin, etc.) the Polars played an excellent first half of soccer to start their 2024 campaign.
Rachel Fuller, the Polars' keeper, anchored Crown all evening long. She finished the night with nine saves and six of those saves came in the first 90 minutes. Thanks to Fuller's incredible effort between the pipes, paired with solid defensive and midfield play, the Polars kept the Auggies off the board in the first half. The two teams went into the halftime break locked in a scoreless tie.
Fuller continued to play well in the second half. She made three more saves in the final 90 minutes; including a highlight reel sequence where the Augsburg attack had the ball pinballing around the box and Fuller refused to let anything into her net.
In the 66
th minute, the Auggies finally broke through. Augsburg was able to deliver a nice ball into the box and it was pounded into the lower right side of the net. The visitors had finally found a way past Crown's excellent goalkeeping and defending and led 1-0. That goal would end up being the difference as Crown lost the season opener by a single tally.
Offensively, the Polars were led by
Ella Hollander who fired two shots in the contest.
Emma Domka had one shot in the contest and it ended up on net.
After competing in a tight, back-and-forth battle in front of a sizable Crown College fan section, the Polars Women's Soccer Team will be back in action on Wednesday, September 4
th. The Crown ladies will compete in their first road contest of the young season as they head to the Twin Cities to take on Macalester College. The contest is set for a 7:00 PM start.
