Women's Soccer Comes Up Short at Mount Vernon Nazarene

(Mount Vernon, OH)-- The Cleary Cougar women's soccer team was in Mount Vernon, Ohio for a non-conference matchup against the Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars Monday evening.  

Cleary would have a couple chances in th early minutes of game action, with a shot by Payton Zeh sent wide, followed by a pair of Morgan Vanos blocked shots.  MVNU would start to assert themselves, taking more control of the game, but the Cleary defense held firm, and the two teams went into the halftime break tied 0-0.

MVNU came out in the second half swinging, and as the pressure mounted against Cleary, the hosts would find their breakthrough in the 55th minute, as a failed Cleary clearance fell to the feet of MVNU's Alexis Hoffman at the top of the box, and she slotted the ball into the bottom left corner to beat Cleary goalkeeper Tara McGrath.  The lead was doubled five minutes later, as MVNU took a 2-0.  MVNU would add their third and final goal on a penalty kick after Cleary was called for a foul in the box.  Tara McGrath guessed the correct direction on the kick, but it was well placed and beat the Cleary keeper.

Tara McGrath would suffer the defeat in goal, as she made 9 saves on 12 shots faced.  Cleary was outshot 30-8 in the game, and MVNU was able to hold a 14-4 advantage on shots on target.  Cleary committed 16 fouls to MVNU's 8 in the contest.

Cleary falls to 0-1-1 on the young season, and will return to action on Saturday, August 24, when they play their first home game of the season at Lake Trust Stadium.  The Cougars will welcome the Kalamazoo College Hornets for a 1:00 PM ET kickoff.