Dixie State women's soccer: Red Storm rolling through season

The Dixie State College women's soccer team looked ready for the postseason in its 4-0 victory against the Grand Canyon University Antelopes Friday in St. George.

Senior forward Shannon Larsen led the Red Storm (12-3, 11-0) offense in passing with all four assists on the DSC goals, but that is only half the story. In the second minute of the game Larsen collided with GCU goalkeeper Mileena Buchei. Larsen required assistance to leave the field of play, and she looked to be finished playing for the rest of night. At the end of the first half she could sit on the bench in her blue warm-up jacket no more...

"I hate just watching," said Larsen, a nursing major from Salt Lake City. "I wanted to be in there so bad, so second half I wanted to come out and make a difference."

Head coach Linda Huddleston said having Larsen sit on the bench in the first half might have hurt the team since both teams went into halftime scoreless.

"She's a wonderful distributor," Huddleston said. "I call her magic feet because she's amazing."

The defensive battle would turn into a Red Storm shootout in the second half, and it started with junior forward Wendy Stratford scoring in the 50th minute. The scoring continued in the 67th minute with a goal by junior midfielder Erin Beeston. Sophomore midfielder Camille Peterson extended the lead to 3-0 in the 79th minute, and Stratford scored her second goal of the game two minutes later to end the scoring.

Huddleston said it was awesome to score four goals on such a fantastic goalkeeper as Buchei.

Larsen said the teamwork was great, especially in the passing game.

"That's the reason we've made it this far is because of our teamwork," Larsen said. "We played really well."

DSC was playing a woman short for the first eight minutes of the second half as senior midfielder Carly Haycock received a red card, which automatically led to her being ejected from the game. The disadvantage did not last as Jessica Schartz of GCU also received a red card in the 53rd minute.

Both Huddleston and Larsen were relieved that the winning streak continued.

"[Grand Canyon] came out and played with a lot of intensity," Huddleston said. "They're a very physical team. You have to give them a lot of credit."

DSC returns to action Thursday at 4:30 p.m. against the Academy of Art University Urban Knights. The Red Storm dismantled the AAU defense Sept. 28 in San Francisco, winning 7-0. Senior midfielder Mikala Wilkes scored four goals in that game.

The regular season finale takes place Saturday at Dixie High School at 8 p.m. against Notre Dame de Namur.

Editor's note: The Dixie Sun is the student paper of Dixie State.