Soccer rout for Central women on senior day
Central College
PELLA — The long shutout streak came to a close, but the Central College women’s soccer team picked up its sixth win in a row on Senior Day with a 5-1 thrashing of Principia College (Ill.).
For the first time in 13 days, the Dutch (6-1-1) allowed a goal when the Panthers (1-5-0) scored late in the second half. However, by the time Principia got on the board, Central had already raced out to a 5-0 lead.
Sophomore Lauren Vahlkamp (sophomore, Quincy, Ill., Notre Dame HS) got Central on the board first in the 24th minute, taking an assist from Erin Manion (freshman, Delafield, Wis., Kettle Moraine HS). Vahlkamp then repaid the favor two minutes later on the first of Manion’s two goals.
“Lauren scored a beautiful goal to get us started,” coach Mike Kobylinski said. “Erin did what she needed to do. She’s going to score some big goals for us down the line.”
Kallie Holte (junior, Kirksville, Mo.) scored her eighth goal of the season, taking an assist from Kayla Sunvold (senior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS), before Baylee Kivett (freshman, Gilman, Grinnell HS) found the back of the net in the 65th minute to complete Central’s scoring.
“Baylee’s doing really well right now,” Koblyinski said. “She is such a hard worker.”
Kobylinski cited the influence of Kalee Findlay (junior, Dallas Center-Grimes) and Lauryn Kramer (sophomore, Cedar Falls) in the middle as paramount to the team’s success.
“They’re such work horses in the middle,” he said. “They do their jobs so well and are two of the best tacklers I’ve ever seen.”
Sydney Lunardi (Bettendorf, Iowa, Davenport Assumption HS), Savana Robinson (Des Moines, Hoover HS), Kelsey Roxworthy (St. Charles, Ill., East HS), Anissa Stanitzek (Grand Rapids, Mich., Coopersville HS) and Sunvold were honored as part of the Senior Day ceremonies and Kobylinski reiterated their importance to the program.
“There’s a reason that we are having the success that we are and it’s because of those older players,” he said. “They set the tone and have executed our philosophy perfectly.”
After a busy stretch of competitive matches, Kobylinski is happy with the progress of this team.
“We’ve played five matches in eight days,” he said. “We’ve won all five and conceded only one goal, that’s really good.”
Central is now off for 10 days until a road match at Monmouth College (Ill.) on September 27.
