Central erupts for Wisconsin women’s soccer win
Central College
WATERTOWN, WIS. — Playing on familiar turf, back Liz Daniels (senior, Oconomowoc, Wis.) scored two goals as the Central College women’s soccer team coasted past Maranatha Baptist (Wis.) 5-0 Friday.
Daniels, who grew up just a few miles away in another part of suburban Milwaukee, helped the Dutch overcome what coach Mike Kobylinski termed a bit of an uneven performance.
“It was nice to get Liz on the scoresheet,” he said. “I’ll keep saying it: She’s one of the best backs I’ve seen.”
But Kobylinski thought the Dutch had a sluggish start.
“Soccer is a funny game,” he said. “I thought we actually played much better against (Washington-St. Louis University),” he said, referring to Monday’s 3-0 loss. “But in the second half we played much better. We had better combination passing.”
Kobylinski moved Emily Saville (senior, Cedar Rapids, Linn-Mar HS) up to forward and saw a quick dividend. Her score in the 29th minute, assisted by forward Brittany Hinton (senior, Davenport, West HS), gave the Dutch a 2-0 lead that they carried into intermission. It was her team-high third goal of the young season. Forward Anissa Stanitzek (sophomore, Grand Rapids, Mich., Coopersville HS) put Central on the board earlier with an unassisted tally, her first score.
“Anissa is really coming on huge for us up top,” Kobylinski said.
Daniels broke it open with goals in the 50th and 68th minutes, getting an assist from Saville on the second score. Forward Rachel Schmidt (junior, Urbandale) got the final tally in the 78th minute with an assist from forward Kallie Holte (freshman, Kirksville, Mo.).
“We know she can do that,” Kobylinski said.
Goalkeepers Sydney Lunardi (sophomore, Bettendorf, Davenport Assumption HS) and Savana Robinson (sophomore, Des Moines, Hoover HS) split time, each making two saves.
“Savana played really well,” Kobylinski said. “We’re very confident in our goalkeepers.”
The statistics were as one-sided as the scoreline. Central held a 25-5 shot advantage, a 16-4 edge in shots on goal and led Maranatha Baptist (0-1) in corner kicks 8-1.
The Dutch have a short turnaround, traveling to Naperville, Ill. to take on North Central College (Ill.) Saturday in a women’s-men’s twinbill starting at 2 p.m. Consequently, Kobylinski was glad he made liberal use of his bench Friday, with all 22 players seeing action.
“That’s key,” he said. “Tomorrow the game will be on (Field Turf). It will be faster. We need to come out ready to play.”
The Cardinals have played just one game thus far, getting a 1-1 draw at home against Bethel University (Minn.) Aug. 29.
“They will be good,” Kobylinski said. “If we play our game and can learn from today, we’ll be OK.
“I’m really happy with our resiliency. The older players are getting the younger players ready to go, which is good because we have a lot of freshmen.”
