Roper Tallies Game-Winner as Milligan Women’s Soccer Blanks Union

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. – The Milligan University women's soccer team hit the road for another Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) tilt on Wednesday evening. The Buffs found themselves in Barbourville, Ky. for a matchup with Union Commonwealth. In what ended up being a low-scoring affair, the Buffs were able to get the only goal of the battle near the end of the first half to take a 1-0 triumph home to East Tennessee.

With the win, Milligan is now sitting at 8-6-2 for the campaign and 8-3-1 in the AAC, currently holding the No. 4 spot in the league standings.

There was not much action near the frames in this battle, as a combined eight shots were taken in the first half, with four of them being saved. The one shot in the half that found the twine was Natalie Roper's fifth goal of the campaign via an Ella Sawa assist in the 34th minute of the matchup.

Union put forth their best effort in the second half, holding a 9-4 shot advantage in the last 45 minutes. Only three of their shots were on net, however, and none were particularly challenging for Akyla Walcott between the pipes.

Overall, Union ended up with an 11-10 advantage in the shot department, but the Buffs had six on net in comparison to just four for the Bulldogs. Roper was the star of the match for Milligan, taking four total shots and hitting the frame with three of them, including her game-winner. Grace Baldwin, Nikki Shirley and Mariah Shull took the team's other three shots on goal.

Walcott's triumph pushes her record to 7-6-2 on the campaign. She saved all four shots on goal that she faced in the bout.

The Lady Buffs' regular-season finale will come this Saturday, Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. against Pikeville at Anglin Field, as they look to take care of their end of the bargain to attempt to earn the AAC No. 3 seed for the conference tourney.