Steele, Walcott Sparkle in Victorious Finale for Milligan Women’s Soccer

MILLIGAN, Tenn. – On Saturday afternoon, the Milligan University women's soccer team ended their regular season with a matchup against the University of Pikeville Bears at Anglin Field. After a scoreless opening half, the Buffs would get a single goal and hold on to a 1-0 win to vault them into the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament.

With the win, Milligan finishes the AAC season with a 9-3-1 conference record and has earned the No. 4 seed for the AAC Tournament.

Pikeville had the ball in the Milligan defensive half of the pitch for most of the opening half. In fact, the Bears had a 15-4 shot advantage over the Buffaloes over the first 45 minutes. Akyla Walcott had nine first-half saves to help keep the squad in the game.

In the second, Milligan had a much better showing, but Pikeville still held a 7-5 shot advantage over the course of that period. Luckily, the quality of one Milligan chance in the 65th minute was stronger than any other shot in the game. Freshman striker, Halle Steele scored her third goal and first game-winning goal of her career on a left-footed shot that curled inside the far post to put the Buffs up 1-0 for good.

Luckily for MU, the 22-9 shot discrepancy in favor of Pikeville did not amount to anything noticeable on the scoreboard. Of Milligan's nine shots, just three were on frame. Those shots came from Shelby Knight, Lauren Hawkley and the game-winner from Steele.

Walcott made an outlandish 15 saves on 15 shots on goal, which is the most saves she has posted in a single game in her career at Milligan. Her record is now 8-6-2 on the year as she prepares for the AAC Tourney.

The AAC Tournament begins with play-in games for the No. 7-No. 10 seeds on Oct. 29, before Milligan will next play on Nov. 2 against No. 5-seeded Johnson at Anglin Field, looking to move ahead in the tourney.