Oct. 6, 2007

Central defeated by Wartburg

PELLA—After taking the early lead, the Central College women’s soccer team was not able to hold off Wartburg College as the Dutch fell 2-1 Saturday.  

Despite an early offensive assault by the Knights (11-3 overall, 3-1 conference), midfielder Stephanie Ellwanger (junior, Indianola) drilled a shot into the net to give Central (6-4-1 overall, 0-3-1) a 1-0 advantage. 

“Steph gave us a great goal,” said head coach Rick Burns. “It was similar to the goal she scored at Loras (Sept. 29).”

Wartburg answered in the 34th minute when Kelsey Kovacevich headed a goal off a corner kick. 

Central was later forced to play without standout forward Kelli Hancock (sophomore, Cedar Falls) after an injury which Burns felt negatively impacted the Dutch.

“It really hurt to lose Kelli,” said Burns. “She gives us a lot of speed and a great work rate up top.”

Rachel Oswald scored the match winner 18 minutes into the second half off a cross from Kari Krolikowski.

“It is frustrating because we have lost three consecutive matches by one goal,” said Burns. “We never gave up, and we have shown we can play with the top teams in the league.” The Dutch travel to Indianola on Wednesday when they face-off against Simpson at 5 p.m. in an Iowa Conference match.