Women's Soccer Wins Sixth Straight, Defeat Dixie State 4-2

Saturday, October 20

Phoenix, AZ

8:00 PM

Grand Canyon

Dixie State

Photo by: Darryl Webb

Women's Soccer Wins Sixth Straight, Defeat Dixie State 4-2

10/20/2012 10:45:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Lincoln has two goals as 'Lopes continue to roll

The Grand Canyon University women’s soccer team won, 4-2, tonight over visiting Dixie State on the GCU Soccer Field. With the win, the Antelopes improved to 9-4-2 overall and 8-1-2 in the Pacific West Conference, while the Red Storm fell to 6-7-2 overall and 6-5-0 in conference play.

The win was also the sixth straight for GCU, their longest since also winning six consecutive games from Oct. 1-26, 2011.

"We came out on top again in another very tough game versus Dixie State," said head coach Stevie Gill. "Dixie has some fantastic athletes and always give us a difficult time as they keep coming at you. I thought Jessica Lincoln played very well up the right wing and Jessica Fitzgerald was outstanding tonight for us up front."

GCU outshot the Red Storm, 16-12, as their defense allowed just 12 shots by Dixie State in the game. Goalkeeper Cat Lena had four saves on the night.

The ‘Lopes held the shot advantage in the first 45 minutes by a margin of 9-7, placing four of those shots on goal. GCU took seven shots in the first 20 minutes as they forced Dixie State to play on the defense for a majority of the half.

GCU opened the scoring when Jessica Fitzgerald found the back of the net in the 19^th minute. Just three minutes later, Jessica Lincoln was assisted on a goal from Fitzgerald, who passed the ball from the left corner for Lincoln who successfully converted the shot.

The Red Storm cut GCU’s lead in half when Megan Marchbanks lofted the ball over Lena’s head in the 33^rd minute for Dixie State’s first score of the game.

GCU found themselves on the defense for the beginning of the second half as they attempted just one shot in the first 16 minutes. The Red Storm came out firing, as they took four shots and notching one goal in the first 13 minutes of the half.

The Red Storm evened the score when a free kick pass was kicked to back center of the net, just out of reach of Lena.

GCU regained the lead when Lincoln scored her second goal of the contest in the 81^st minute. Gabriella Zavala de Rojas cushioned GCU’s lead when her shot bounced off the goalies hands into the back of the net just over three minutes later.

"I'm very pleased with the girl's as they have shown great character in the last number of games and have played hard until the final whistle," added Gill. "We will enjoy the win tonight and begin to prepare tomorrow for our road trip to San Diego and Los Angeles to play two solid teams."

The ‘Lopes will head out for their final regular season road trip of the year when they travel to Point Loma on Thursday for a contest at 3:30 p.m. GCU will also play at California Baptist on Saturday at 3 p.m.

GCU 4, DX 2