The Wildcats notched their first "W" of the season on Wednesday afternoon in front of their home crowd, defeating visiting Northwestern College by a final of 4-2.  Junior Brianna Coulter scored a hat trick as the Wildcats found their scoring touch.  The Wildcats are now 1-3 on the year, while the Eagles fell to 0-2.  

The game got off on the wrong foot for the Wildcats, as Rebekah Kirby scored less than ten minutes into the game, and quickly put another ball in the net only two minutes later to give the Eagles a 2-0 edge. The 2010 NCAA tournament team looked ready to cruise to a win, but  the Wildcats kept their focus, and were able to create some scoring chances for themselves.  They finally broke into the scoring when Coulter headed a corner kick from Kristi Thorwick into the goal. 

The game was tied less than two minutes later, as Coulter gained control of the ball just past midfield, and booted a long kick that hit the crossbar, bounced down, and rolled into the goal.  The teams went into halftime all knotted at 2-2. 

The Wildcats didn't take long to assert themselves in the second half, as Shayla Silva scored off an unassisted goal a little over five minutes after halftime.  That gave the Wildcats all they would need, with first-year keeper Abbey Hinton playing a solid half and making four saves in the game.  Coulter put an exclamation point on the day with her third goal, putting the ball just over the goalies head in the final minute of play. 

Coach Citowicki earned his first win as a head coach and noted that, "The team has been working extremely hard in practice, and things are finally starting to click.  Northwestern is a great team and we had to work really hard to beat them.  This was a well deserved win for the team." 

The Wildcats are heading to the West Coast to take on Lewis & Clark and LaVerne in Portland, Oregon this weekend. 

Box Score