Wednesday night's Women's Soccer season-opener featured a matchup of two Heart of America Conference powers as the Ravens tangled with the Eagles of Central Methodist University.
The Ravens scored early and continued to play from in front, earning a 3-2 win.
After taking a 2-1 lead into halftime, the Ravens extended their lead in the 59th minute. Megan Homoly sent a long through ball forward to Paulina Carles, who slipped a shot by CMU keeper Sheila Sanchez for a goal, giving the Ravens a 3-1 lead.
The defending Heart-champion Eagles stuck around, though, pressing forward on the Ravens defense. Olivia Berry was forced to make a diving save for the Ravens with 15:30 to play, but the Eagles pressure resulted in a goal by Aina Cantero in the 79th minute to trim the Ravens lead to 3-2.
The Ravens defense held firm for the final 11 minutes, securing the win to open the season 1-0 overall, and 1-0 in Heart play.
The first half had plenty of excitement as the teams took the field for each side's first match of the season.
The Ravens took advantage of an early mistake by CMU when the Eagles played a ball back to their own keeper, Sanchez, who used her hands on the ball. The foul resulted in an indirect free kick for the Ravens, which was slotted high in the net by Natalie Duque off an assist by Rachel Beffa for the opening goal of the season, nine minutes into the match.
The Ravens earned a free kick with a little over 20 minutes to play in the first half, allowing Beffa to unleash a strong left-footed blast that beat Sanchez for the Ravens second goal of the match, giving the home squad a 2-0 lead.
The Eagles quickly answered. Sandra Jakobsen unleashed a blast from the top of the Ravens box, deflecting off the Ravens defenders and leaving Ashley Rehagen on the wrong foot watching the ball skip into the net. The Ravens lead was trimmed to 2-1 with just under 18 minutes to play before half, but they maintained the lead through the rest of the first half.
The Ravens travel to Oskaloosa, Iowa, for their second match of the season. They'll take on William Penn University Saturday, Sept. 19.
