Pair of second half goals at William Woods lead to Pride's second-straight win

FULTON, Mo. - Matching up for the second-straight season but first as Heart of America Athletic Conference opponents, the Clarke University women's soccer team earned a 2-0 win at William Woods University on Saturday afternoon in Fulton, Mo.

Carrying a scoreless tie into the second half, it wouldn't take long into the frame for the Pride to get on the board as Jayden Black was able to score just over 30 seconds in as Laryssa Pritchard stole the ball from the WWU defense and immediately feed Black wide open centrally for Black to loft a shot over the outstretched hand of Owls' goalkeeper Zoe Hargis to make it 1-0 CU.

Both Pritchard and Black made impacts on the Clarke offense in Tuesday night's win over Mount Mercy as Pritchard scored the game-winning goal in the final stages to make this two-straight games with at least a point for the senior and Black returned from a five-game absense on Tuesday to help deepen the CU attack and getting her second goal of the season on Saturday.

The second half saw a big uptick in Pride offensive chances as they took nine shots, six of which went on goal, after they were credited for only one shot in the opening 90 minutes with Clarke goalkeeper Faith Krapfl making five saves on the five shots on goal she faced, three in the first half and two in the second half for her sixth toal shutout of the season, third individual clean sheet on the year, and second in as many games.

With just over 10 minutes to go in the game, Clarke would double their lead as Hailey Packer perfectly slid a ball between defenders to a breaking Samantha Miller, who would tap a shot on the ground past Hargis for her first goal of the season and first since Sept. 3 2023, during her sophomore season, to make it 2-0 Pride.

The Owls were able to get one more shot on goal after that point but it became the fifth save of the game for Krapfl in route to the victory as the Pride move to 4-5-2 overall and 3-3-1 in the Heart, sitting in sixth place in the conference standings one game into second half of conference play.

Clarke women's soccer will remain on the road for their next two matchups, first in a week as they'll travel to Olathe, Kan. for a game on Saturday, Oct. 4 when they face off against No. 20 MidAmerica Nazarene University for a 12:00 p.m. CT scheduled kickoff against the Pioneers.