DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ? Fresh off a 10-day lay-off, the Embry-Riddle women's soccer team registered a convincing 5-0 shutout against Webber International, Wednesday at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium. Lindsey Evans led all scorers with two goals as the Eagles improved to 5-4 overall and 3-1 in The Sun Conference.
Embry-Riddle was the more aggressive of the two teams to start the game and kept the Warriors pinned in their defensive half of the field for the better part of the first half.
At the 8:37 mark, Madeline Edbom won a ball off a Warrior throw-in on the left side of the field and delivered a perfect cross to Sarah Hirst on the opposite side. Hirst used her speed to race past the last Webber International defender and into the box and the senior drilled her third goal in as many games into the lower left corner to put the Eagles up 1-0.
Lindsey Evans increased the margin to 2-0 just over eight minutes later when she scored her first penalty kick of the season after being pushed down inside the box.
Hirst had a chance to put the Eagles up by three in the 20th minute. Evans played a ball over the top of the defense and Hirst blazed by the defender, but her shot sailed just wide of the target.
Webber International picked up the pace in the latter part of the half, putting six shots on frame. But Eagle goalkeeper Dina Roper was up to the task, pulling in six saves to stifle the Warrior attack.
Both teams were fairly evenly matched through the first 15 minutes of the second period with action on both ends of the field. The Eagles took control of the match for good in the 66th minute when freshman Coley Paladino netted the first goal of her college career, finishing a pass from Cecilie Henriksen.
Paladino's goal started an offensive barrage for the Blue and Gold who scored three goals in a four-minute span.
Evans scored her second goal of the night after receiving the ball just outside the box. She moved the ball from her left foot to her right to elude the defender and drilled a shot into the far side netting to make the score 4-0.
The Warriors went on the offensive immediately following Evans' goal and Candice Cunningham broke away from the Eagle defense creating a one-v-one situation with Brelyn Bingham who came on for Roper to start the second half, but Bingham came off her line and made a dynamic save. Cunningham managed to get a boot on the resulting rebound, but was denied yet again as Amanda Diego raced to clear the ball off the line to preserve the shutout.
In the 69th minute, the ball was played to Henriksen in an onside position at midfield and Henriksen took the ball into the box and rifled a shot into the upper right corner to seal the 5-0 win.
Roper finished the night with six saves, while Bingham snagged three. Their Warrior counterpart, Joy Rosano, had seven saves as Webber International fell to 7-4-1 overall and 4-3 in league play.
The Eagles' next match will be at 7 p.m. on Friday when they host eighth-ranked Northwood at the Embry-Riddle Soccer S
