Eagles Edged by Coyotes in Rivalry Match

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Veteran Leoni Enzlmuller scored a goal midway through the second half and that held up as the game's only goal: both teams defended extremely well, but Kansas Wesleyan's line tally was enough to lift the Coyotes (6-5-1, 4-3-0 KCAC) to a 1-0 win over Avila (4-9-0, 4-4-0 KCAC) on Saturday afternoon at The Z.

These two teams have played a ton of close games in recent years in what's become a legitimate rivalry in the KCAC women's soccer scene. The 2023 edition of this rivalry was a briskly-paced, well-defended, tightly-contested affair – as many of the other installments have been.

The top storyline before the game was that Avila elected to wait until shortly before kickoff to determine a starting goalkeeper: ultimately, the Eagles went with Olivia Seston, who started her third straight game for the first time this season, on the heels of Wednesday's loss against Southwestern. That proved to be a good decision: Seston made four saves behind Avila's strong defense and rebounded nicely from Wednesday, giving her team a chance to win.

Avila defended very well as a team, primarily through Brooke Clark, Amaris Sigler, Korynn Peregrine and Hope Hines, the final three of whom played the full 90 minutes, and all four of whom made at least one crucial defensive play to keep the team in the mix.

Unfortunately, on the other side, the Eagle offense was never able to break through against KWU and goalkeeper Allison Blumenthal, who made three saves in her own right to earn a shutout. Her hardest test came just three minutes into the second half off a hot shot from Megan Nugent, but otherwise the Eagles were unable to generate many chances offensively.

It's not like the Coyotes had that many chances in their own right, but the visitors capitalized on one of the chances they did get, and that was the difference in the game. Almost exactly ten minutes into the second half, KWU veteran Enzlmuller broke through the Avila defense and redirected home a cross from Grace Conner from the left wing, and that was that – Kansas Wesleyan pulled out a 1-0 win, the team's fourth straight result this season by that final scoreline.

Up next, Avila soccer will remain home and take on local rivals Ottawa this Wednesday, October 11 at The Z. The women kick off the doubleheader at noon with the men to follow at 2:30; as always, you can watch all the action live and for free on the Avila Sports Network.