Oct. 21, 2009

Luther outshoots Central, 3-0

PELLA—Luther College was scoreless until the 35th minute but went on to post a 3-0 Iowa Conference win over the Central College women’s soccer team Wednesday.

Dutch goalkeeper Abby Norman (sophomore, Geneseo, Ill.) had a busy afternoon, making 16 saves as Luther (8-6-2 overall, 4-1-1 conference) outshot Central 40-2.

Central (1-15 overall, 0-6 conference) is seeking to overcome not only youth but injuries to several key players. Yet coach Colin Kuchy found reason to be encouraged by Wednesday’s showing.

“Considering we put in a new formation Monday and have only practiced with it two days, we played really well,” Kuchy said.

“The thing I’m pleased with is we haven’t stopped fighting, as frustrating as it is sometimes.”

The Dutch did see a return to action for freshman defender Ginny Severns (Williamsburg) and Kuchy is hoping some others can return from the injury list.

“It was nice having Ginny back and I think we may be close to having (goalkeeper) Shelby Austin (freshman, Wichita, Kan., Goddard HS) back,” Kuchy said. “If we can get Steph Hasken (freshman, Davenport, West HS) and Sierra Kuhns (freshman, Adel, ADM HS) back, we’ll have a little more offense.”

Central is home Saturday for another league women’s/men’s twinbill, taking on Coe College. The women’s game starts at 1 p.m. at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex field with the men’s game at 3 p.m. Live stats and a video Webcast of both games will be offered on the Central athletics Web site at www.central.edu/athletics.

Coe scored perhaps the season’s biggest upset Wednesday, stunning No. 8-ranked Wartburg 1-0 at Cedar Rapids, ending the Knights’ 30-match unbeaten streak. Coe is 5-10-1 overall and 3-3 in league play.

“Coe returns some good scorers from last year and has added a couple of really good players,” Kuchy said. “But we gave them a good game last year and hopefully we can build off of that.”