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Interview with A. Sagdahl

Billings, Mont. – After suffering their first loss of the season, Montana State Billings women's soccer team came back strong in their Thursday matchup against Northwest Nazarene University. The Yellowjackets controlled the ball possession for the majority of the game and defeated the Crusaders 2-1.
 
MSUB showed no signs of letdown following a setback over the previous weekend. The Yellowjackets started Thursday's match fast and finished strong. Senior midfielder Kristen Kastelic took the first shot of match that landed on target within the first minute of play.
 
Northwest Nazarene's Tanya Zickefoose played well on the day while facing heavy offensive pressure by the Jackets. She saved Kastelic's first attempt, then minutes later (3:59) saved Jaucelyn Richter's shot on goal attempt.
 
Macy Vasquez took the first shot of the match for the Crusaders, but the attempt was blocked by one of the MSUB defenders.
 
Following the oppositions' counter, the Yellowjackets out shot Northwest Nazarene 7-2 between the 10^th and 26^th minute. Heidi Greenback, Richter and Whitney Siler all took two shots each during this onslaught. While all were good attempts only one of Siler's shots was on target.
 

In the 32^nd minute MSUB would find success for their aggressive offense. Freshman midfielder Teegan Koster gave a nice pass to Greenback putting her on a breakaway, where she then completed the play with a 10 yard shot past Zickfoose to give the Jackets the 1-0 lead. Greenback now has five goals on the season.
 
After the goal, MSUB did not let up as they took five more shots to end the half with Richter and Koster each having one on goal. The Yellowjackets outshot Northwest Nazarene 16-3 in the first half, and held the 1-0 advantage going into the break.
 
Northwest Nazarene's defense picked up in the second half and while MSUB still controlled the ball possession, the Crusaders did a better job of limiting the Jackets shot attempts. From the opening kickoff until the 68^th minute, the Yellowjackets only took three shot attempts. All of the shots were on goal however.
 
This gave MSUB great momentum, and in the 70^th minute of play they scored their second goal of the match. Jackie Hill passed the ball to Richter who then in turn gave a beautiful back heel pass to freshman Alisa Sagdahl putting her one on one with the keeper and she fired a 12 yard shot in the bottom right of the goal to increase the Jackets lead to 2-0.
 
When it seemed as if MSUB would cruise to a shutout victory, the Crusaders got deep into Jacket territory and chipped in a five yard shot amongst a scuffle around the goal to come within one of the Yellowjackets.
 
Noticing that the opposition gained momentum with a late goal, senior Adrienne Biglow and the backline quickly tightened up and did not allow any further shot attempts from Northwest Nazarene. MSUB closed out the match with the 2-1 victory extending their home winning streak to seven games including last year's Nov. 5 contest against the Crusaders.
 
“I am very happy with the performance today,” stated head coach Wojtek Krakowiak. “We came out very aggressive and created a lot of scoring chances. Our possession was great and we connected a lot of passes.”
 
MSUB finished the contest outshooting the Crusaders 21-6 and 11-2 in shot on goal attempts. Freshman Aiko Johnson continues to play big for the Jackets as she earned her 10^th win of the season with three saves on the day. She now has 37 saves on the year.
 
The Yellowjackets are now 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Their next match will be at Yellowjacket Field on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 1:00 p.m. against Western Oregon University.