Milligan Women’s Soccer Routs Kentucky Christian on Senior Night

MILLIGAN, Tenn. – On Wednesday evening at Anglin Field, the Milligan University women's soccer team spent their Senior Night battling against the Kentucky Christian University Knights. In the end, the Buffs came out victorious with an outrageous 14-1 triumph over the visitors to get back into the win column.

Milligan is now back over .500 for the season, reaching 6-5-2 overall and 6-2-1 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC).

It was a bit of a sluggish start for the Buffaloes in the early minutes, as KCU earned a penalty in the 14th minute and were able to convert to take an early 1-0 advantage. That wouldn't last, though, as just over 30 seconds later there was a goal scored by Lauren Hawkley to tie things 1-1. Less than three minutes later, Shelby Knight snatched a goal on a gorgeous feed from Hawkley to make it 2-1 for Milligan. A 36th-minute tally by Hawkley on a Natalie Roper assist made it 3-1, before Roper notched one of her own in the 38th minute to make it 4-1. The final goal of the half was scored by Hawkley to clinch a hat trick for the Buff star.

The floodgates swung open in the second half, as nine goals were scored by the Buffs in the half. Nora Pugh scored the first two, with Nikki Shirley assisting the second one, while Lucy Knowles tallied the following tally. Then, an own goal by the Knights and a goal by Angela Wachira made it 10-1. The last four goals were supplied strictly by seniors, as Kori Barnhill, Autumn Daniels, Makenzie Wilke and Emma True tallied the goals. Another senior, McKinna Murr assisted three of those four goals.

A grand total of 33 shots were taken by Milligan, while 22 of those were shots on net. In comparison, KCU took just two shots in the tilt, with one in each half.

Akyla Walcott and Annie Steele split the matchup in half, with Walcott playing the first half and Steele finishing the contest between the pipes. Only one save was made in the battle, which was tallied by Steele.

With the triumph, the Buffs continue to play well and now look forward to an interesting stretch of road bouts, starting with a matchup against Brenau University in Georgia on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 5 p.m.