MVNU (6-5-1, 4-2-1 AMC) wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard after going 110 minutes without a goal on Friday. Sophomore forward Jessica Estep sent a pass to senior midfielder Erin Miller (left), who found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead just 1:41 into the match. The goal was the first of the year for Miller and the sixth of her career.

Then, in the 30th minute, Miller struck again as she took a cross from senior defender Kelly Sgambellone and scored her second goal of the match and seventh of her career to extend the Lady Cougars’ lead to 2-0. It was also the first time in her career that she had scored two goals in the same match.

That would prove to be all the scoring in the match as the defenses prevailed from that point on. However, the Lady Cougars controlled the action the rest of the way as MVNU improved to 4-0-1 in its last five matches.

Sophomore Jenessa Loewen notched her third straight shutout for the Lady Cougars as she stopped five shots and has now gone 346:10 without allowing a goal. Michelle Maddison of Roberts Wesleyan (7-5-1, 5-3-0 AMC) posted two saves for the Lady Raiders.

“Erin did a great job of getting us off to a good start with the early goal,” said MVNU coach Jonathan Meade. “After such a long and grueling match yesterday, it took a little bit of time to get our legs going today. However, by midway through the first half, we were definitely controlling the action. Then, it was just a matter of just not connecting on our shots as we had a lot of other scoring opportunities and just failed to convert.”

“Our back line and Jenessa did a tremendous job this weekend,” Meade added. “We came in knowing that we would be facing the No. 1 and No. 3 scoring teams in the conference and we did a great job of not allowing them a single goal. After some of the struggles that we had defensively early in the season, we seem to be gaining confidence and playing as a much more cohesive unit in the back. We are very pleased with our results this weekend.”

The Lady Cougars will return to action on Wednesday when MVNU will host Point Park (Pa.) University in another AMC match that will kick off at 2:00 p.m. as part of a rare midweek doubleheader with the MVNU men’s team who will also take on Point Park at 4:00 p.m.