Second half goal leads Pride to Senior Day victory on Homecoming

DUBUQUE, Iowa - On the rare occasion of celebrating both Homecoming and Senior Day on the same date, the Clarke University women's soccer team was able to celebrate on all front with their 1-0 victory at Burrows Field over Missouri Baptist University on Saturday evening.

A fairly even game between teams that entered the night with similar records, the Pride were able to break through with the lone goal in the game in the 54th minute when sophomore Jayden Black was sent free behind the defense by Samantha Miller where Black would slide it past MBU goalkeeper Jordyn Maryas on a play that went from Clarke goalie Abigail Turley to the back of the Spartans net in about eight seconds after Audrey McKenna tapped Turley's punt over to an open Miller to lead to the scoring sequence.

Turley got just her second start of the season as the freshman from Riverside, Calif. and made three saves for her first career individual shutout in a win that looms large in the Pride's journey to reach the Heart Tournament as they entered Saturday just behind Missouri Baptist in the regular season standings and are now able to hold a tiebreaker over the Spartans at just one point back with the next three games for CU against the three teams immediately behind them in Graceland, Baker, and Culver-Stockton.

Clarke's defensive unit of Hailey Packer and Liv Turnquist on the outsides then Malia Silvers and Morgan Lock at center back all played 90 minutes along with midfielder Abby Prunty all played 90 minutes games with Laryssa Pritchard, McKenna, and Black combining for eight of the team's nine shots on the day.

Following the victory, the Pride were able to honor their 17 seniors that included Pritchard, Prunty, Lock, Miller, Riley Bard, Sydney Hill, Jace Herman, Sydney Herzmann, Mackenzie Wisner, April Lashomb, Renata Aguilar, Faith Krapfl, Abbigail Poor, Kara Rogers, Payton Gaughan, Marcela Fajardo, and Esmeralda Kajtazovic as one of the largest senior classes in Clarke women's soccer history.

Clarke women's soccer will be back on their home field for their next game when they host Graceland on Tuesday, Oct. 21 with a scheduled 5:00 p.m. CT kickoff between the Pride and Yellowjackets on Burrows Field.