On a perfect night for soccer at Bill Buxton Stadium, the Storm soccer teams picked up a sweep against the University of Dubuque on Oct. 23 thanks to a pair of goals by Cassie Nash and late game heroics by Tate Downs.
The Storm women lead off the night with a must win game to stay in contention for a first round bye in the American Rivers Conference tournament. The Spartans came to town with an 8-3-3 record and sitting fourth in the conference. They were eager to pull off the upset against the 10-1-3 Storm who sat at second.
It was a high octane start, as both teams came out firing with seven total shots put up in the first twenty minutes. With a few shots on goal by both teams and a pair hitting the frame of the goal, it was still scoreless through twenty minutes of action. The first goal came for the storm in the 28th minute with a header from Julia Wagoner, assisted off a corner by Hailey Kowzan. This was Wagoner’s first goal of the season while Kowzan picked up her team leading ninth assist.
The Spartans were quick to strike back however as Alyssa Tranchita picked up her fifth goal of the season only two minutes later. Tranchita cleaned up her own shot off the post and tapped it in, tying the game.
The first half scoring was not done yet as the Storm got one right back less than four minutes later, as Maddie Hays picked up her first assist of the year with a perfect cross to Cassie Nash. Nash picked up her 15th goal of the year on the header.
The score remained 2-1 throughout the second half, but the Storm controlled much more of the possession than in the first. Dubuque goalkeeper Karissa Cruz was able to pick up seven saves to keep the Spartans in it, but she was not able to stop a shot off the left foot of Cassie Nash in the 81st minute, as the Storm slammed the door shut on a 3-1 win over Dubuque. That goal by Nash gave her 16 on the year, which puts her tied for 13th in all of Division 3 for goals. This win officially secured a spot in the conference tournament for the Storm with only two games left in the regular season.
On the men’s side, it was a different type of must win game for both teams. With the Storm and the Spartans sitting at the bottom half of the conference, both teams needed a win to be in position to be one of the six teams that make the conference tournament.
The game started slower, with the Spartans controlling the ball in the back, but the Storm were eventually able to break through, with Ronaldo Ordaz nailing one in the back of the net from just outside the box in the 23rd minute. Ten minutes later the Spartans tied the game with a successful penalty shot by Zach Floss.
Spartan goalkeeper Matt Marchiori was the star of the show in the second half with a few acrobatic saves, finishing the night with eleven. In the 89th minute, Mitchell Dickson’s shot was blocked by the Spartan defense, and with the ball rolling right to him, sophomore Tate Downs tapped it in for his first collegiate goal. After a late save by Storm goalkeeper Mason Chaplin, the final whistle sounded giving the Storm the 2-1 victory.
This win brought the Storm’s overall record to 7-7-2, and 3-2-1 in conference play, putting them in position to make the conference tournament with only two regular season games to go.
