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| Kelsey Kurilla |
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- A couple of times this season, the Lady Miner soccer team has been able to get in front of teams in the opening half but not be able to hang on for the victory.
UMR altered that story Wednesday night, jumping out to a three-goal lead at Missouri-St. Louis and holding on for a 3-2 victory over the Tritons.
It was the Lady Miners' second win in the last week over a team in contention for a berth in the GLVC Tournament. UMR knocked off Saint Joseph's Friday and beat a Triton team Wednesday that entered the night in seventh place in the league standings; the top eight teams will make the conference tournament.
The Lady Miners took the lead 31 minutes into play when Janine Einhellig tapped in Morgan Lockowitz's corner kick, then extended the advantage to 2-0 with less than five minutes to go in the half when Tabitha Ausman got past a defender and put a shot past goalkeeper Mary Behrmann.
UMR pushed its lead to three goals almost immediately after the second half started, when Marci Byrd blasted in a shot from 15 yards away 1:34 into the half.
The Tritons started a comeback with two goals in a span of seven minutes, as Tara Reitz scored at 57:20 and Krisie Musenfechter made it 3-2 by converting a crossing pass at the 64:09 mark. But that was all the scoring the Tritons could get, as despite outshooting UMR 20-2 in the second half, they were stopped nine times by UMR goalkeeper Kelsey Kurilla.
The freshman goalie finished the night with 12 saves to give UMR its first win over UMSL in exactly seven years. The Lady Miners beat UMSL 2-1 on Oct. 17, 2000 in St. Louis.
UMR will play at Kentucky Wesleyan Friday at noon.
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