CANTON, MO – The Principia women's soccer team came up short in a 3-2 defeat on Wednesday evening against the Culver-Stockton College varsity reserves. Despite the Panthers taking an early two-goal lead, the the Wildcats made a late comeback to deny Principia their first result of the season.
Senior Adriana Rucks got the Panthers off to a flying start in the 5th minute, scoring her first of the season by crashing the net and chipping the ball past the Wildcats' goalkeeper. Just ten minutes later, Kaylee Kleist doubled the lead with her second goal of the season, stealing the ball from the defense and slotting it over the keeper's head to make it 2-0.
Culver-Stockton pulled one back in the 21st minute, sending the Panthers into halftime with a 2-1 lead. Principia held off the Wildcats' attack for much of the second half, thanks to strong defensive efforts from Maddie Frank and Olivia Scott, while Mirsa Boyer helped dictate play in the midfield.
Unfortunately, the Panthers began to run out of steam towards the end of the game as the Wildcats equalized in the 74th minute on a penalty kick and then scored the game-winning goal in the 83rd minute off a header from a corner kick.
Principia will open SLIAC play against one of the conference's top teams when they host the Webster Gorloks on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
