Ferris State Soccer Shuts Out Visiting St. Joseph's For First Victory Of 2016 Campaign

Ferris State Soccer Shuts Out Visiting St. Joseph's For First Victory Of 2016 Campaign

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's soccer squad notched its first win of the 2016 campaign in impressive fashion on Sunday (Sept. 4) as the Bulldogs shutout St. Joseph's (Ind.) by a 4-0 count in regional action at FSU's Top Taggart Field.

Ferris State, which was playing its second regular-season outing of the year, bolted out to a 3-0 lead in the opening half and cruised to the win over the Pumas on a beautiful afternoon.

The Bulldogs jumped on the board first when junior midfielder Rachel Fouts tallied her first of two goals on the day in the 35th minute of the first half. Senior Meredith Smith made a great pass from the corner at the north end of the stadium into the box where Fouts put it past SJC netminder Melissa Kuhar for the first Bulldog goal of the year.

Ferris State added a second goal only three minutes later as sophomore midfielder Alexis Schodowski benefited from a pass upfield by junior defender Audrey Romine to beat the Pumas' on the back end. Her goal at 38:28 off of Romine's assist put FSU in front 2-0 in the contest.

The Bulldogs were not done in the first half as Romine and Schodowski hooked up again in the 43rd minute to make it a 3-0 advantage at the break. This time the scoring was flipped as Schodowski put a shot off the bar that was rebounded by Romine, who found the back of the net.

Fouts later added her second goal at 74:16 of the second half on a free kick shot to account for the final scoring of the afternoon.

The Bulldogs held a decisive 31-11 edge in total shots with 15 in the first half and 16 more in the final period of action. FSU also benefited from two yellow cards and three red cards issued to St. Joseph's, which resulted in the ejection of both a player and the Pumas' head coach.

Freshman goalkeeper Grace Kraft earned her first start of the season and recorded the victory as she made seven saves in 90 minutes of action for FSU. 

The loss went to Kuhar, who finished with 10 saves in going the distance for SJC.

Finally, the Bulldogs also received seven corner kick chances to one for St. Joseph's with SJC called for eight fouls overall to seven for Ferris State.

The Bulldogs, who are now 1-1 on the year, will head to Minnesota for a pair of contests next weekend. FSU will face Minnesota State on Friday (Sept. 9) at 5:30 p.m. (ET) before visiting Winona State on Sunday (Sept. 11) for a 1 p.m. (ET) non-league encounter.