Box Score I Box Score (.html) I Box Score (.pdf) I Photo Gallery I Chris Johnson Postgame I Taylor Heidorn Postgame

INDIANAPOLIS - Senior Kristin Pierce and junior Taylor Heidorn each scored goals as the IUPUI women's soccer team claimed a 2-1 win over the University of Indianapolis at Michael A. Carroll Stadium on Sunday (Aug. 25) afternoon. The Jaguars unloaded a 29-shot assault against the UIndy and finished with a 7-2 advantage on corner kicks en route to the win.

"I liked how our kids battled back from Friday night after playing 110 minutes," IUPUI Head Coach Chris Johnson said. "It's about 90 degrees out here and about 130 (degrees) on the turf, so it's great to see the effort in there and seeing girls coming to play the entire time."

IUPUI (1-0-1) jumped in front early, thanks to some pesky play by freshman forward Tori Minnich. The Fort Wayne-native got the ball at her feet in behind the UIndy backs and was pulled down by Greyhound goalkeeper Megan Fee eight yards out from goal. Fee was called for a foul even though Minnich was able to get off an attempt that rolled into the empty net. On the ensuing Pierce penalty kick, Fee guessed correctly, dove to her right and got a hand on the ball, but the shot was angled enough to end up just inside the post for her third career score. 

UIndy seemingly tied the score in the closing seconds of the first half, but had a score negated due to an offsides call. 

Ultimately, UIndy pulled even in the 48th minute against IUPUI's backup goalkeeper Nicole Kulovitz, who relieved Giselle Guzman at halftime. Nicole Duncan hit a rocket at the IUPUI netminder from the right flank, only to see the 5-foot-10 Kulovitz make a brilliant stop, punching the ball to her right. However, the rebound came to Jenna Linxwiler, who easily finished from inside the six-yard box. 

Yielding the goal seemed to awaken the Jaguars as they dominated the run of play for the next 30-plus minutes. 

Minnich drew another foul inside the UIndy penalty area, resulting in a PK try in the 53rd minute. However, Whitney Whitehouse stuffed Sarah Carlisle's attempt, diving to her right to push the ball wide of the post. Whitehouse later made an athletic save of a Heidorn drive in the 54th minute and Catherine Raster had a personal flurry of three attempts in just more than 90 seconds, two of which flew high of target. 

The Jaguars finally got the UIndy defense to buckle in the 65th minute when Heidorn deposited her eighth career goal and first-ever game-winner. Carlisle played perfect pass to Heidorn, who barely hesitated before ripping a shot just inside the left post.

"We were knocking at the goal that whole second half and I just wanted a goal so bad," Heidorn said. "Sarah played that perfect ball in and I just saw the goal.

"After they scored that goal, we stepped up. That was kind of like a wake-up call for us. Once they scored that goal, we picked it back up again and started getting some more shots."

The Jaguars outshot UIndy 18-7 in the second half with Raster, Minnich and Kalli Shepler-Tucker helping control the offensive pace. Johnson's team's depth was evident as the bench combined to take 13 shots, many of which were quality chances. On the other side, UIndy was equally liberal with substitutions as the match was counted as an exhibition. 

"The kids are learning to play together more each game we play," Johnson said. "They are learning to move more fluidly and learning to anticipate where someone is going to be.

"We've got to be a little more efficient in getting goals for that many shots. We'll look to take a few more shots inside the 18 and when we're going to goal."

Playing with the lead, IUPUI kept the heat on, but later had to stave off UIndy in the final five minutes. 

UIndy's Stacey Klene had a shot sail just over the crossbar in the 87th minute and later had a hard-nosed header deflect just outside the right post, resulting in a corner kick. The Greyhounds only two corner kicks of the match came in the final four minutes of the game. 

Minnich and Heidorn led the Jaguars with five shots each with the latter putting four on frame. All total, 13 different Jaguars were credited with at least one shot attempt. Duncan and Braunig had three shots each for the Greyhounds in the loss. 

Guzman made five saves in a clean first half and Kulovitz made four stops and gained her first collegiate win. Fee and Whitehouse combined to make 11 stops for UIndy. 

With the win, IUPUI improved to 2-0 all-time against their Division II neighbors from the south side of the city. 

The Jaguars will return to action next Friday (Aug. 30) night when IUPUI travels west to take on SIU-Edwardsville. Kickoff is slated for 8:00 p.m. Eastern from the SIUE campus.