Alma College

 
ELMHURST, Ill. – The Alma College women's soccer program seemed to be headed towards a scoreless tie in Sunday's match at Elmhurst, but with just over three minutes remaining, Ava Hoffman took the cross from Grace Sczepanski and delivered the Scots a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Bluejays for their fourth win in-a-row.
 
The Basics: 

• Score
  • Alma – 1
  • Elmhurst – 0

• Records
  • Alma (7-0-1, 0-0 Michigan)
  • Elmhurst (6-2, 0-0 Illinois & Wisconsin)

• Location
  • Elmhurst, Illinois – Langhorst Field

• Series History
  • Scots Lead 2-1 (66.7%)

• Winning Streak
  • Scots (W2) / Bluejays' Last Win: September 19, 2021 (4-1)

 
How It Happened:
The first half was a familiar story for these two defensive-driven teams with just four shots and two SOGs combined as each side lived up to their reputation, having each entered the contest with six shutouts apiece.
 
With urgency intensified as the minutes grew shorter, the Bluejays ramped up their shot volume, taking seven shots in the second half with four of those being on-target with the Scots and Jays logging seven corner kicks on top of 13 fouls in the back half. At the start of the 87th minute, Sczepanski beat her defender on a ball that drifted into the far right end of the pitch, was able to get just enough on a bouncing pass into the middle of the field where Hoffman was waiting, lining up for a wide-open shot that she placed perfectly into the bottom left corner to lift Alma to a win in which it had just three shots. The goal was their lone on-target attempt in the entire second half.
 
Scots' Top Performers:
For Hoffman, it was her first score of the year and her fifth game-winner at the college level whereas Sczepanski did not officially get credited with the assist in the box score, she deserves her flowers for the well-placed ball and flawless execution. Mya Pofahl tallied her fifth complete game shutout of the campaign (with one combined clean sheet thrown in), making four saves and climbing to fourth on the program's all-time leaderboard. Kylie Hutchins was responsible for the other shot-on-goal in the game, the first of her career, while Anna Waterstredt launched a shot, but did not have the accuracy.
 
Next:
The women are in action just once this coming week as they look to clip the Ravens' wings of Anderson (Indiana) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Hoosier State.
 

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Follow the women's soccer program on Twitter/X (@AlmaScotsWSOC) and Instagram (@AlmaScotsWSoccer).

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