Anderson Charges Past Manchester

The Anderson University women's soccer team charged past Manchester University with a 4-0 victory during Wednesday's Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) matchup in North Manchester.

With the win, Anderson (7-5-2, 6-0-1) is tied for first in the HCAC standings. The Ravens have also clinched a top 4 seed in the HCAC Tournament and earned the right to host a playoff match during the six-team HCAC Tournament. Anderson also holds its first seven-match unbeaten streak since 2019. It's the first time in program history Anderson went unbeaten in seven consecutive conference matches.

Both teams were tied at 0-0 for the first 35 minutes, but Lauren Brown (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Homestead) finished a pass from Anhely Montes (Portland, Ind. / Jay County) for a goal to put the Ravens on the board. Montes provided the assist.

The Ravens came out of halftime with a 1-0 lead, but began to pull away. It took less than three minutes for Taylor Fort (Pendleton, Ind. / Pendleton Heights) to find the back of the net off an assist from Lillie Casey (Loveland, Ohio / Goshen). During the 78th minute, Taylor Baker (Springfield, Ohio / Catholic Central) delivered a goal assisted by Maggie Kolenic (Cleveland, Ohio / Newbury). Baker produced her second goal of the match with less than five minutes remaining to round out Anderson's scoring for the match.

"It took us time to wake up and play our game and we had a much better second half," Coach Jennifer Myhre said. "Once we got back to our possession style and moving on and off the ball, we created a lot more chances and had some nice finished by all of them. The depth of our team has been the key this year, allowing us to move players around positionally and have players step in wherever is needed with injuries."

Anderson had a defender provide an assist two matches in a row. Nadia Bentley (Concinnati, Ohio / Archbishop McNicholas) recorded an assist on Sunday while Kolenic produced an assist on Wednesday.

"It's great to have goals and assists come from players all over the field and even having the defenders making an impact the last two games with Nadia and Maggie [Kolenic] assisting too!"

Anderson outshot the Spartans (2-11, 1-6) by a 22-6 margin and held a 15-2 advantage in shots on goal. Fort tallied seven shots and two shots on goal. Casey put each of her five shots on frame. Baker contributed three shots and three shots on goal while Montes provided two shots and two shots on goal. Brown recorded two shots and one shot on goal. Harper Manion (Lebanon, Ohio / Bishop Fenwick) and Izzy Wilson (Decatur, Ind. / Bellmont) put each of their shots on frame while Kaitlyn Revell (Louisville, Ky. / Assumption) rounded out the shots.

Emmalee Paarlberg (Franklin, Ohio / Homeschool) started the first 78 minutes, 48 seconds in goal and saved both of the shots she faced. Meg White (Greenwood, Ind. / Center Grove) came in relief for the final 11:12.

Hanover (11-0-3, 6-0-1), Mount St. Joseph (9-7-1, 6-0-1) and Anderson are all tied for first in the HCAC standings with 19 points each while Rose-Hulman (9-2-2, 5-1-1) sits in fourth place with 16 points. Anderson challenges Hanover in HCAC action on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Hanover. Hanover is receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches (USC) NCAA D-III national poll and is ranked No. 3 in the latest USC NCAA D-III Region VII poll.