MANKATO —
On Thursday, it was all the Mankato East girls soccer team could do to pull out a Big Nine Conference overtime win against Rochester John Marshall at Thomas O. Anderson Field.
On Saturday, at the same field, the Cougars had a little easier time of it. East more than doubled up Waseca in shots on the way to a 7-1 triumph in a nonconference matchup.
Marta Anderson and Hannah Whitington led the way for East as it jumped to a 4-0 first-half lead and stayed comfortably ahead the rest of the way. Anderson finished with three goals while Whitington scored twice. Lizzy Vetter and Rebekah Kolstad scored the other goals for the Cougars.
“We’ve been playing pretty well lately,” Anderson said. “We stumbled against Mankato West but we’ve fixed some things and we’ve been learning every time out. Overall I’d say we’re off to a good start.”
East outshot Waseca 14-6.
Anderson opened the scoring eight minutes into the game and Whitington made it 2-0 just three minutes later. At the 17-minute mark, Anderson found the back of the net again and Lizzy Vetter capped East’s first-half scoring with a goal in the 36th minute.
Waseca got on the board just before halftime. Katelyn Miller split the pipes with two-minutes to go before intermission.
“We kind of had a little tired moment there before halftime and Waseca capitalized,” Anderson said. “But we picked it up and stayed focused in the second half.”
The second frame was all Cougars as Anderson and Whitington scored goals just one-minute apart, and Kolstad ended the onslaught with a header into the back of the net with 11 minutes to play. Taylor Kuechle finished with two assists while Emily Stengel and Jenny Vetter each had one.
Goalkeeper Kelsey Ekstedt made five saves to the get the win and was helped by a defensive wall that included Abby Kibble, Sydney Halbur, Caitlin Clause and stopper Stengel.
“I think we’re pretty good about staying on task,” Kibble said. “We try to play the same way no matter what the score is. If we all do our jobs the way we’re supposed to then the whole team is successful.”
The win improves East’s record to 6-1 overall. The Cougars (2-1 in Big Nine) play Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Loyola.
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Related Photos
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Mankato East's Jenny Vetter winds up for a shot during their match against Waseca Saturday. Pat Christman
September 9, 2012
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