Seniors lead second half comeback in 2-1 Pride win at Grand View

DES MOINES, Iowa - Playing their final regular season game of the 2024 season, the Clarke University women's soccer team need a pair of second half goals on their way to a 2-1 victory on the road against Grand View University on Thursday night.

Statistically, the Pride dominated a majority of the game, outshooting Grand View 21-2 over the course of the entire game and getting three corner kick opportunities to the Vikings none in 90 minutes.

It would be the Vikings who struck first as they earned a penalty kick in the 10th minute when Clarke was called for a handball in the box as GVU's Ella Forsyth stepped to the spot and beat CU keeper Faith Krapfl to take a 1-0 lead that they would hold into halftime.

Both Pride goals would be scored in quick succession in the second half as senior defender Hope Ward would provide the equalizer in the 63rd minute as she would lob a free kick ball into the box that would be deflected past Grand View goalie Maya Fritz to make it a 1-1 game on Ward's third goal of the year.

Less than two minutes of game time later, Morgan Catchur would continue her strong finish to the regular season offensively, as she would win the ball in the 18-yard box off of an Emily Marino throw-in to fire it into the back of the net for her fifth goal of the year and fourth game-winning goal, all of them coming in the last eight games of the regular season.

With this win, Pride women's soccer finishes with their best overall and conference regular season record in program history at a 12-3-3 overall record and 8-2-1 in the Heart as they locked up the No. 4 seed in the Heart regular season standings prior to Thursday night's game.

Clarke's Heart Tournament Quarterfinal matchup has also already been set since last Saturday but won't be made official until the completion of all Heart regular season games this Saturday but the Pride will expect a rematch of their Homecoming game on Sept. 27 when presumed No. 5 seed MidAmerica Nazarene University returns to Burrows Field on Tuesday, Nov. 5 for a 7:00 p.m. CT scheduled kickoff for CU soccer's first ever Heart Tournament home game.