ANGOLA, IND. – The Trine women's soccer team defeated Manchester University 6-1 in the season opener.
Sophomore Morgan Sanderson (Leo/Leo) scored the Thunder's first and last goals of the night and added another in between for a game high three goals on the night.
Sanderson and the Thunder started the scoring early when she received a beautiful cross from freshman Courtney Reece (Indianapolis/Roncalli) and put it into the lower right corner of the goal in the sixth minute of the game.
In the 20th minute, sophomore Kristen Reece (Indianapolis/Roncalli) would add her first goal of the night when she went around one defender and then juked passed the goalkeeper. Just six minutes later Kristen Reece would add her second goal of the night when when received a long pass from Andrea Oster (Waterloo/DeKalb) and shot it past the goalkeeper and into the left side of the net. Her second goal would be the last of the half and Trine would take a 3-0 lead into the intermission.
The Thunder would put the final tallies on their side of the scoreboard with a flurry of three goals in the 72nd and 73rd minutes of the game. Courtney Reece would start the streak with a long shot from the top of the box that just went over the head of Manchester junior goalkeeper Caroline Smith (Mason, Ohio/William Mason). Sanderson would follow this with two goals only fourty seconds apart, the second of which saw the sophomore powering her way past two defenders before puting the ball into the net just out of the reach of Smith.
At the next stop after the sixth goal, Trine head coach Terry Stefankiewicz made mass substitutions including pulling senior goalkeeper Kristina Veljovic (Valparaiso/Valparaiso). Veljovic would finish the night with three saves, as the defense spent most of the night keeping the Spartans out of the offensive zone.
Isabella Zoog (Brownsburg/Brownsburg) would score the lone Manchester goal on a free kick from deep on the right wing to give the game its final score of 6-1.
The Thunder will next take the pitch on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 7:00 p.m. when they travel to Chicago, Ill. to face off against Illinois Tech.