Knack's 2-save sequence preserves home win in 87th minute
By: Paul Coro
While Grand Canyon women's soccer hunt for an offensive breakthrough, the stars of the Lopes' show stay at the forefront.
GCU found that goal in the 58th minute Thursday night, and that was all the Lopes needed to overcome Idaho 1-0 because the shining defense came through again.
For the third consecutive season, GCU has allowed one goal in a five-game stretch after Thursday night's shutout was preserved by a pair of amazing, 87th-minute saves from junior goalkeeper Emma Knack.
With GCU (4-2) needing to cling to a 1-0 lead for the final 3 1/2 minutes, an Idaho cross gave Sara Rodgers an open shot from 14 yards out. With a liner heading high for the net, Knack leaped to deflect it off the crossbar.
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   GCU goalkeeper Emma Knack
The rebound came to Idaho's Annika Farley, who fired a shot off one bounce from 9 yards out as Knack popped off the ground to deflect that shot away too. With that rebound resting in front of the open goal, GCU graduate Kennedy Chambers cleared it and the Lopes finished off the win.
"I was just thinking, 'I need to make a big save at some point in this game,' " said Knack, who is from Isanti, Minnesota. "I felt it coming up. I honestly didn't even know if I was going to get it or not but I just went for it. And then it hit the post, I was like, 'I have to get up.' "
The late Idaho flurry was more like the play of the first half, when the Vandals outshot the Lopes 10-2 and just missed a goal wide in the fourth minute.
On the match's opening push, GCU senior forward Hannah Smith crossed to sophomore forward Ellie Johannes, whose shot went wide 14 seconds after kickoff. After a 15th-minute miss, the Lopes did not get a shot for the half's final 30 minutes as they adjusted to playing without midfield staples AJ Loera and Sabrina Guzman.
"I felt fortunate it was nil-nil at halftime," Lopes head coach Chris Cissell said. "We switched our entire formation, and we really dominated most of the second half.
"The girls really bought into the second-half formation and the way we wanted to play. They were excited that we were switching."
       Tatum Hofstetter (right)
GCU junior forward Neve Renwick did not get the score, but she cracked the Idaho defense by having four shots blocked or saved in a seven-minute span early in the second half.
After six GCU shots in the second half's first 12 minutes, Lopes freshman Taylor Gerst made the most of her starting opportunity all match and especially when she pounced on an Idaho backfield miscue.
Gerst took control, dribbled to the goal line and delivered a left-footed assist back to the middle, where sophomore midfielder Tatum Hofstetter found a gap to charge through the left side of the box and scored to the right side of the net.
"We knew we had to bring the energy in the second half," Hofstetter said. "It was a lot of shots on goal, but we finally found the back of the net.
"We have to come out like we did in the second half in the first half."
It was Hofstetter's second goal in three matches after the Ole Miss transfer from Scottsdale, Arizona, also scored in GCU's Aug. 31 win at Oregon.
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    GCU coach Chris Cissell
"It feels good to win at home in front of our fans and the Havocs coming out here with March to the Match and all the 9/11 tributes going on, we really wanted to get the win, so it feels good," said Cissell, who dressed patriotically for the match.
With Chambers, sophomore Samantha Amato and senior Jayden Sanders handling the back line in the second half, Knack's late-game heroics preserved the fourth win – all by shutout.
"I really have so much trust in my back line that they will always save me," Knack said. "Kenn (Kennedy Chambers) always saves me. I have to do whatever it takes to back my team up as well because I know they'll do the same."
GCU is firing 14 shots per game and expects that its bolstered firepower will have goals break out soon.
Until then, the Lopes are relishing the work of its revamped defensive back line and the addition of Knack, who has matched her two-year South Dakota State shutout total in her first six GCU starts.
"I love it here," Knack said. "I was telling Ciss (Cissell) that I can count on one hand how many bad days I've had here. I wake up, and I'm so excited to go to soccer, hang out with my soccer family, live at GCU and live life here with all my friends."
The Lopes have a quick turnaround for an 11 a.m. Sunday match at Arizona (4-3), which has not played since Sunday. In the teams' meetings over the past three seasons, each team has won a 1-0 game with the other match being a tie.
Sunday's match at Mulcahy Stadium in Tucson will stream on ESPN+.
"We've been really good on the road," said Cissell, whose team is 3-0 on the road this season. "We need to really take care of the girls that played a lot of minutes tonight because that one is going to come quick."
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