ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn.- Fall sports have been in full swing at Crown College for a couple of weeks now, but Saturday marked the busiest day of the 2024 Fall so far. The Polar Women's Soccer, Volleyball, and Football teams were all in action on Saturday with all three programs hosting games on the Crown campus. Women's Soccer played the matinee at Old National Bank Stadium with the Football team hosting Hamline University later in the evening at the same venue. The Polars dropped the contest to Wisconsin-River Falls 6-0.
The first half saw the Polars and Falcons play an extremely even, back-and-forth brand of soccer. The visiting Falcons got on the board early, scoring only 65 seconds into the contest. After surrendering the early goal, the Polars rebounded to play an extremely solid first half. At halftime, the Falcons still led 1-0. The scoring opportunities were completely even in the first half of play with each team registering five shots in the first half.
In the second half, the floodgates opened up for the Falcons' offense. After being held scoreless for 50 minutes of game action, UWRF scored in the 52
nd minute off of a penalty kick goal. The Falcons received the PK opportunity after a collision between the Falcons' attacker and the Polars' goalkeeper. Wisconsin-River Falls would add four more goals in the second half and went on to win the contest 6-0.
In the second half of play, Crown picked up six shots for a total of 11 in the game. The Polars had multiple chances to break through on the scoreboard in the second half thanks in large part to their corner kick opportunities. Crown had two corner kicks in the first half and added six more corners in the second half alone. The Polars had some strong balls delivered into the box off of the corner kicks but were unable to get one past the Falcons' keeper.
Ester Roper got the start in net for the Polars and had two saves.
Ashley Pierce led the way for Crown's offense with three shots and two of them were on goal.
Emma Domka and Ellie Schanbacker each had two shots in the game.
Crown Women's Soccer has almost a week off before their next action. The Polars will host a MIAC opponent in Bethel University on Friday, September 13th. The game will begin at 7:00 PM at Old National Bank Stadium.
