No. 20 Women's Soccer Defeats Beneditine at Home

Marshall, Mo., (Oct. 9, 2024)- The No. 20 Missouri Valley College women's soccer team hosted Benedictine (Kan.) in a Heart of America Athletic Conference contest Wednesday evening inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium.  The Vikings used a pair of first half goals to build a lead, and earned a shutout win, 3-0.

Play in the game started with Benedictine creating the first chance on goal, in the opening moments, forcing Sophomore Goalkeeper Marina Barbara Bujalance (Cornella Llobregat, Spain) into a save.  Missouri Valley followed with its first quality chance, nearly nine minutes into play, as the shot from Junior Midfielder Judit Ferre (Barcelona, Spain) was saved.  Moments later, the Ravens countered with another chance, which was kept out of goal once again by Barbara Bujalance.  The Vikings continued to build up pressure, as the team earned a corner kick near the 18-minute mark.  The ensuing kick landed at Junior Forward Marlene Flores (Bolivia), and the BC keeper made another save.  The rebound went to a Benedictine defender, but the clearance attempt hit off a teammate and resulted in an own goal to put MVC in front, 1-0.  The Ravens tried to get the goal back with less than 15-minutes to play in the half, as Barbara Bujalance made another save.  Just over four minutes later, Missouri Valley created another attempt on goal, as Junior Defender Marta Carrasco Mesa (Sevilla, Spain) sent a free kick into the BC box.  Flores put a header past the keeper and into goal to stretch the lead out to 2-0.  The Vikings held Benedictine to without a shot through the rest of the half, and kept the two-goal advantage at halftime.

Missouri Valley created the first chances at the start of the second half.  Junior Midfielder Carla Carmona (Barcelona, Spain) had a shot saved with less than two minutes played, followed five minutes later by another shot on goal from Flores.  Benedictine came back with a shot that required a save from Barbara Bujalance just over seven minutes after the restart.  The two teams traded possession through the next several minutes.  Barbara Bujalance came up with a save near the 69-minute mark, and MVC followed with another quality chance.  Flores gained possession near the BC box, and put a long-range shot over the keeper and into the goal to make it a 3-0 advantage with 20-minutes remaining in the contest.  Barbara Bujalance needed to make two more saves in the final six minutes of play to secure the shutout, and the Vikings earned a 3-0 victory.

Flores scored two goals, the first multi-goal game of the season, and now has five goals and 14 points.  Carrasco Mesa now has three assists on the season.  Barbara Bujalance made seven saves in goal to secure the seventh shutout of the season.  The Vikings held a 13-8 advantage in shots, and created four corner kicks.

Missouri Valley improves to 9-3-1 overall and 6-0-1 to take sole possession of first place in the Heart standings.  Benedictine drops to 9-4-1 on the season and 6-1 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking women's soccer team hosts Grand View (Iowa) in a Heart contest, Saturday at 1 p.m., inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium.  The men's game will follow at 3:30 p.m.

Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.