Burlington, IA – Five different Warriors collected a goal on Wednesday afternoon to lead the No. 15 ranked Indian Hills Women's Soccer team to a 5-0 victory at Southeastern. The Warriors remain undefeated at 5-0-0 on the year.
With the win, the Warriors have now posted three shutouts to start the year and have allowed just two goals overall. Freshman Trisha Westphal (Lockridge, IA/Fairfield) has controlled the net for Indian Hills, collecting all five wins on the year. Westphal's 0.40 goals against average is the sixth lowest total in the nation currently.
"Defensively we had a fantastic game," said head coach Anthony Longo. "Southeastern has a couple good players offensively who can create and cause problems. Our backline played great throughout the game and really shut down any opportunities."
The Warriors struck pay dirt in the 30th minute as Elisabeth Plouy (Twin Falls, ID/Twin Falls) netted the team's first goal on an assist from Mifumi Sasanuma (Tokyo, Japan/Shutoku). Janette Ortiz-Chavez (Lexington, NE/Lexington) put home a loose ball off a corner kick in the 35th minute to double the Warrior lead. Sophomore Hope Ward (Burlington, IA/Burlington Notre Dame) made a run from the backline to score on a corner kick from Rachel Kaut (Pleasant Hill, IA/Southeast Polk) as Indian Hills took a comfortable 3-0 lead into halftime.
Freshman Seira Uko (Toba City, Japan/Jumonji) scored her second goal in as many games in the 70th minute on an assist from Plouy. Uko followed up in the 74th minute with an assist to Ikumi Okumura (Edogawa, Japan/Murata) for the final tally.
The team's 43 goals scored this year already match the program total from the Spring 2021 season where the Warriors played 16 total games. Indian Hills leads all National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) women's soccer teams in both goals and assists on the year.
"We were great creating chances and pushing numbers forward," Longo added. "Our style is beginning to show it's effective and players are embracing the system. As long as we are creating opportunities, the goals will continue to come.
"Scoring-wise, it was nice to see 5 different players get on the score sheet. We have lots of depth on the offensive side of the field, and today showed we can get goals from a variety of places. That is going to be a huge part of the success we hope to have as the year goes on and into post-season."
16 different Warriors have now registered at least one goal on the year.
Indian Hills is back in action at 1:00 PM on Saturday afternoon at Schafer Stadium in Ottumwa.
CLEAN SHEET. AGAIN!
— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) September 1, 2021
No. 15 @IHCCSoccerWomen collects its third shutout of the season as the Warriors top Southeastern 5-0. Five different goal scorers made their way on to the stat sheet.#WeAreHills #WarriorNation pic.twitter.com/T9Ku9ZVf4j