WATERTOWN, Wis. -- A strong showing from the offense gave the Sabercats their first win of the young season today in 5-0 drumming of Mount Mary.

Hannah Evans scored a goal and recorded 2 assists while Makayla Willette scored two goals in the win.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 5-0 Mount Mary
• Venue: Maranatha Baptist University
• Location: Watertown, Wis.
• Attendance: 0
• Record: MBU (1-2-1), MMU (0-6-0)

STORY

Given the final score, it was surprising that it took Maranatha so long to get going, but the scoring started in the eleventh minute for the Sabercats. Freshman Jillian Brown stole the ball at about 35 yards from the goal and proceeded on a breakaway to the net. As the keeper came to meet her, she lofted a chip shot over her head and into the center of the net for her first career goal.

Just a few minutes later, captain Hannah Evans stopped the Mount Mary defense with a clean takeaway then made a beautiful pass up the field to Makayla Willette. Willette then took the ball up just a few yards and launched a shot across the box into the left corner of the net for her first career goal. With their first lead of the season, the Sabercats settled into defense mode for a bit but continued to push toward the net.

After about fifteen minutes, they threatened again, this time earning a corner kick. They did not score on the kick, as the shot was deflected and the ball was kicked around in the box for a moment. But Angel Steuerwald secured one of the rebounds off the keeper and scored her first goal of the season to give the Sabercats a 3-0 lead. A few minutes after the goal, Olivia Vander Pluym checked into the game for the first time in a year due to an injury. She would stay on the field for the rest of the half, and Maranatha sat on a comfortable lead at the break.

Within minutes of the whistle to begin the second half, Evans took the ball around midfield with another nice defensive stop. From there, she made her way through the defense to about 30 yards from the goal, from where she unleashed a powerful shot that sneaked past the keeper and into the top right corner of the net. Just five minutes later, Evans made another nice pass to Willette off a free kick into the box, and Willette scored her second goal of the game on a strong shot into the opposite corner, giving the Sabercats a 5-0 lead that they would not surrender.

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MBU Starters: 1- L. Brown, 2- Willette, 7- Evans (C), 8- Bishop, 9- Riley, 10- Hoffman, 11- Torres, 12- Moore (C), 13- Schmidt, 19- Steuerwald (C), 22- J. Brown

STATS

• Shot count: Maranatha 16-3 Mount Mary
• Evans: 1 goal, 2 assists
• Willette: 2 goals, 1st career goal
• Jillian Brown: 1st career goal
• Steuerwald: 1 goal
• Last time: Maranatha defeated Mount Mary 4-0 in 2019
• Series: Maranatha leads the all-time series against Mount Mary, 7-0

OPPONENTS

• Mount Mary competes in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference
• Mount Mary was unable to compete in 2020 due to COVID-19

NEXT

The Sabercats will head to Iowa to face Cornell College at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Follow along at mbusabercats.com/schedule.