Panthers Shutout RiverHawks

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. --- Drury University scored two second-half goals to defeat the Northeastern State women  2-0 at the RiverHawks  Soccer Complex Monday afternoon.

The loss evened Northeastern State's record at 1-1, while Drury is also at 1-1 for the season.

"We got spread out a little bit today and our  players were too far apart from each other to generate any shots on goal," said RiverHawks head coach Carol Melo. "We needed to come a little closer together. When we got the ball we were trying the long ball (shots) and that wasn't working for us.

"I thought our defense played well, but midfielders and strikers were quite apart and we didn't get the runs we wanted to get a close shot.

"We did have a couple of crosses for opportunities to score but we just didn't capitalize on it,'' said Melo.

The Lady Panthers outshot Northeastern 8-6 in the match, with Drury's Katie Pritchard scoring at 48:49 and Mandi  Little 11-minutes later at 59:41. Hillary Cockrell assisted on Pritchard's goal, which came on a header following a corner kick.

Little's shot on goal was unassisted and came following a yellow card called on the RiverHawks' Kristina Marshall. Northeastern was issued three yellow cards in the match.

"This was a physical match,'' said Melo. "I don't like to blame the referee, but he called a couple of yellow cards early on in the game that hurt. I don't think they should have been yellow.  They gave them anyway. The other team should have gotten a couple and they didn't.

"It was a physical game and when the referee takes control  early on in the match it avoids some of  that pushing around that happens later in the game. ‘'

Northeastern State missed two scoring opportunities late in the match as a shot by Hannah Struck went wide and another by Silva Lovera went over the net.

The RiverHawks return to action Thursday when Northwest Missouri State visits the Tahlequah campus for a 1 p.m. match.