Shippensburg University’s women’s soccer team capped off a successful week with two wins, blanking both Millersville on Wednesday and East Stroudsburg on Saturday 1-0 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchups.

On Wednesday, the Raiders travelled to Millersville and beat the Marauders for the first time since 2019. 

The only goal of the game was scored by senior Nicole Torman in the 25th minute. It was Torman’s second collegiate goal and her first career game-winning goal.

Torman launched the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, after senior Sofia Pittas passed the ball following a Millersville kick to the midfield to freshman Gabrielle Walker, who then sent the ball to Torman in the box.

Another key figure in the Raiders’ win was the junior goalkeeper Morgan Molyneaux with seven saves. Molyneaux tied her second-highest total of saves in a match for this season and recorded her second shutout of the season, the fourth of her career.

On Saturday, the Raiders recorded another 1-0 shutout against the favored team of East Stroudsburg, who already clinched their spot for the PSAC playoffs and are ranked third in the PSAC East.

It was the third shutout victory for SU in as many games. The last time the Raiders had three consecutive shutout wins was in 2016, and the last time the Raiders had a three-game winning streak was in 2019.

In the game, Shippensburg was present from the first moment. The team played courageously and did not show any respect for the higher-ranked opponent.

The Raiders even had a few chances to break through and get to the goal, but the Warriors were very successful with trapping the Raiders in offsides. On the other side of the field, the Warriors tried to connect passes to get in front of the Raiders goal but could not create any dangerous situations for a while.

In the 32nd minute, SU scored the only goal of the day. Walker sent the ball right under the arms of East Stroudsburg’s goalkeeper in the center of the net for the lead. It was Walker’s third goal of the season, with all of them coming from the last four games.

Walker’s goal was assisted by junior Jenna Folmar, who cut into midfield before she passed the ball to Walker.

Before halftime, ESU had two big chances to tie the game, but senior goalkeeper Kendra Barlow caught the ball before it could get to the waiting Warriors’ player, and freshman Mia Kemp cleared the ball before it could cross the line after an ESU corner.

After halftime, SU continued its courageous effort. The women had good ball possession, connected lots of passes and always stayed close to their opponents to contest the ball. They did not allow East Stroudsburg to get close to their goal for the majority of the time.

In the last 10 minutes, East Stroudsburg increased the intensity with the intention to tie, or even win the game, supported by their bench shouting, “We got to win this,” on the field.

In the last three minutes, the Warriors had a series of three corner kicks, where Barlow had an important save after the second corner and the Warriors could not convert the other two.

In the last two minutes of the game, Barlow made another save to keep the lead and secure the shutout for SU.

Barlow made a total of five saves in the game and recorded her second consecutive shutout of the season, after shutting out Mansfield the previous week.

The Raiders will play their home finale against Shepherd University at David See Field on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. and will conclude their season on Friday on the road against Bloomsburg.

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