UNIVERSITY CENTER - The Saginaw Valley State University women's soccer team, currently ranked #18 in the nation, hosted the Ferris State University Bulldogs at Braddock Field for a GLIAC matchup on Friday afternoon (10/10). The Lady Cardinals claimed a 2-1 victory over the visitors as sophomore forward Ashley Henderson scored two goals to lead the team to victory.
It was the second meeting of the 2014 season between the two teams, as the first non-conference match resulted in a 1-1 tie on September 14th in Big Rapids.
The game started off with neither team able to get much going offensively, as the game was scoreless heading into the half. Saginaw Valley got-off four shots compared to Ferris's two.
All of the offensive action happened in the second period of play. Sophomore Jenny Goethals used a cross pass to find Henderson at the 59:03 mark of the match and she headed the ball into the goal to give the Cards a 1-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs responded and knotted the score at 1-1 at the 67:57 marker when Abby Meindorf knocked it in the back of the net off a penalty shot.
SVSU would get a similar opportunity of their own, however, with just under seven minutes to play. Henderson would get a penalty shot of her own and bury it in the right side of the net for the 2-1 lead at the 83:39 mark.
The Cardinal defense would stand strong the rest of the way and sophomore goalkeeper Claire Spleth made one of her four saves with 1:03 remaining to help preserve the victory. Spleth improves her record to 8-0-2 on the season in net, as she led the nation in save percentage (.940) heading into the match.
Henderson's two goals gave her numbers six and seven on the season, which puts her near the top of that category in the GLIAC.
Saginaw Valley is now 8-0-2 on the season and holds a 6-0-1 mark in the GLIAC. The Bulldogs fall to 2-6-2 in 2014 with a 1-4-1 mark in league play.
The eight victories surpass last year's win total of seven with five regular season matches left.
