NSU blanks Jimmie women

There wasn’t a lack of physicality from the Jamestown College women’s soccer team on Wednesday against Northern State University. The offense, however, was a whole other issue.

Jimmie senior Nicole Hann pelted a shot off the cross bar in the 11th minute, but that was the closest Jamestown College would get to scoring the rest of the way as Northern State defeated the hometown Jimmies 4-0 at Rotary Field.

“I think we did a really nice job, just our final pass failed us,” said Jamestown College coach Phillip Bohn. “We tried to combine to get behind the defense, and I think our combination was in front of them and that last pass to get behind them, we just couldn’t quite get it.”

The shutout marks the second time this season the Jimmies have been held scoreless at home.

Northern State junior Rachel Goslinga didn’t have much trouble finding the back of the net. The forward out of Crystal, Minn. scored her third and fourth goals of the season and assisted another to help lift the Wolves to 2-1 on the year while the Jimmies fall to 2-3-1.

“She’s really technical and has a great strike on the ball,” said Bohn of Goslinga. “We just gave her a bit too much space.”

Goslinga scored her first of the night just three minutes into the contest on a deep floater that carried just out of reach of Jamestown College goalkeeper Kayla Byle.

The Jimmies had their chance at the equalizer throughout the remainder of the half, including a point-blank shot from Heather Langseth, Jamestown College’s leading scorer, in the 10th minute.

“We had a lot of attack, but it didn’t produce a lot of goal-scoring opportunities,” Bohn said. “I think when you have a half where you don’t take advantage and score goals, it can haunt you in the end and that’s exactly what happened.”

The chances continued to mount, but nothing came of it as the score remained 1-0 going into the half.

“I think it starts to become a mental thing when you have all that attack and it’s not producing shots on goal or goals,” said Bohn. “I think sometimes it can kind of wear you out a little bit.”

Jamestown College created opportunities in the early goings of the second half, but it was the Wolves who notched a goal in the 75th minute when Goslinga slipped a shot past Byle and a Jimmie defender buried it trying to clear the ball.

The goal was credited as an own goal, but Goslinga made sure there wasn’t any doubt when she scored seven minutes later on her own rebound.

The net-seeking standout set up the final goal of the match when she delivered a perfect centering pass to Ashley Elliot, who then scored on a wide open net in the 88th minute.

“I thought the game was a lot closer than the score indicated,” said Bohn. “I think both teams battled quite well.”

Byle was busy all night as she faced nine shots and stopped five of them.

“I think Kayla had a good game, and I think our backline did pretty well,” Bohn said. “We’ve had so many changes in the backline and we haven’t had any training time. We’ve been learning on the fly and that’s so hard for freshman to learn on the fly without being trained at all.”

Northern State netminder Jessica Hernandez recorded her first shutout of the season by keeping all seven of the Jimmies’ shots in front of her.

Jamestown College hits the road for a non-conference match with Minnesota State University-Moorhead on Friday. The Jimmies will then return home on Sunday as hosts to Briar Cliff University.

“I think the girls played more of a compete game as far as defending as a team and attacking as a team,” Bohn said. “I think with all the attacking we had in the first half, if we could have produced a goal I think the game might have been a little different.”

Northern State 4, Jamestown College 0

NSU 1 3 — 4

JC 0 0 — 0

Scoring

First half

1, NSU, Rachel Goslinga (unassisted), 3rd minute.

Second half

2, NSU, Own Goal, 75th minute; 3, NSU, Goslinga (unassisted), 82nd minute; 4, NSU, Ashley Elliot (Goslinga), 88th.

Goalkeeper saves: Northern State, Jessica Hernandez 7; Jamestown College, Kayla Byle 5.

Records: NSU 2-1; Jamestown College 2-3-1.

Sun sports writer David Griswold can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by e-mail at dgriswold@jamestownsun.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dgriswoldjssun

Tags: sports, jimmie, soccer