Early Start Lifts Ferris State Women's Soccer To Fourth-Straight Victory

Early Start Lifts Ferris State Women's Soccer To Fourth-Straight Victory

Big Rapids, Mich. - An early start fueled the Ferris State University women's soccer squad to its fourth-straight victory as the Bulldogs opened Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play with a 4-1 win over the visiting Tiffin Dragons on Friday (Sept. 18) afternoon at the FSU Soccer Field.

Senior forward Nichole Boehnke tallied two goals in the opening 18:10 of play with both coming on shots off of timely Bulldog corner kicks. 

Boehnke, who now has five goals in the last four contests, scored her first marker of the afternoon at 10:12 of the opening period off an assist from freshman Rachel Fouts, who kicked the corner. 

Then, eight minutes later, Boehnke notched her second goal of the contest on a header following yet another corner kick from Fouts in the 18th minute of the first half.
The 2-0 Bulldog lead stood thru the remainder of the first half as the Bulldogs held the Dragons in check most of the way.

Ferris State pushed its advantage to 3-0 in the 66th minute when Fouts notched her first collegiate goal on a shot off a free kick. Her unassisted goal gave FSU a three-goal lead.

Tiffin finally got on the board at 71:17 as Svetlana Gudenkova scored an unassisted goal on a shot that bounced off the leg of Bulldog senior goalkeeper Maddie Haustein. The unfortunate bounce cut the FSU lead back to two goals.

However, the Bulldogs closed the door in the final minute when sophomore Karen Nichols scored in unassisted fashion on a breakaway off an upfield pass for her first goal of the year.
Ferris State narrowly outshot Tiffin 21-18 for the afternoon and put 10 shots on goal to only eight for the Dragons. Tiffin also had eight fouls to three for FSU.

The Bulldogs held a decisive edge in corner kick tries with 10 in the contest compared to Tiffin's one opportunity. Not only did FSU score its first two goals off of corners, but the Bulldogs also had a few other scoring chances from the corner, including one late that nearly gave Boehnke a hat trick.

Haustein made seven saves in playing the entire 90 minutes in net for the Bulldogs while improving to 4-2 on the year. She has now won her last four starts and given up only a single goal in the process.

Samantha Ortenzi suffered the loss for Tiffin, which fell to 1-2-1 overall. She had six saves, but allowed all four Bulldog goals.

Ferris State completes its weekend homestand by hosting GLIAC South Division member Walsh on Sunday (Sept. 20) with match time set for 12 p.m. (ET) at the FSU Soccer Field.