After falling 3-2 to Urbana University on Saturday in the team’s conference opener, MVNU (6-3-1, 1-1-0 AMC South) fell behind 1-0 early on Wednesday to Walsh (7-3-1, 1-2-0 AMC South) when Amanda Patrick took a pass from Chrissy Summers and scored in the 32nd minute after the Lady Cougars’ failed to clear a ball off the back line.

However, MVNU equalized in the 39th minute when freshman forward Jessica Estep (left) followed up her own initial shot off a corner kick by senior defender Stacy Robey to knot the score at 1-1. For Estep, it was her team-leading sixth goal of the season.

Four minutes later, Estep put the Lady Cougars in front 2-1 when she took a pass from junior midfielder Page Miller and scored again. All seven of Estep’s goals have come in the past five matches since she returned from missing one match due to an injury.

The score remained 2-1 until just over six minutes into the second half when senior forward Kristy Brandolini (right) beat three Lady Cavalier defenders after taking a pass from Estep and scored her fifth goal of the year to give MVNU an insurance goal and a 3-1 advantage with 38:48 left in the match.

Freshman goalkeeper Jenessa Loewen and the Lady Cougars’ defense took over from there to post the victory as Loewen finished with five saves. Walsh goalkeeper Rachel Burcher also stopped four shots for the Lady Cavaliers. MVNU held a 12-6 advantage in total shots and an 8-5 edge in corner kicks.

“It was nice to get back on track with a win tonight in conference play,” said MVNU head coach Jonathan Meade. “(Walsh) could not handle Kristy and Jessica tonight as they really worked extremely well together. This was Kristy’s best match of the season so far, and Jessica just continues to get better. They are really becoming a duo to be reckoned with.”

“Our back line played really well with the exception of our one letdown,” Meade added. “Jenessa continues to improve in goal, and Challyn (Dobson) did a nice job of playing some center midfield for us tonight. Page continues to work hard as well as was very tough physically tonight. This was a good, much-needed result.”

The Lady Cougars will return to action on Saturday when MVNU will host Asbury (Ky.) College in a non-conference match at noon.