Rolla, Mo. – The seven senior student-athletes on the 2018 Missouri S&T women's soccer team are able to celebrate their final home appearance of their careers on a winning note as two of them accounted for the Miners' scores in a 2-1 regular-season home finale victory over Illinois Springfield (UIS) today (Oct. 14) in Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) play at S&T's Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

Seniors Morgan Sikora (Highland, Ill./Highland) and Carli Tastad (Millstadt, Ill./Belleville West) each tallied a goal to propel Missouri S&T to the conference win as the Miners improve to 4-8-1 overall and 3-6-1 in the GLVC this season.  With the loss, UIS falls to 2-10-2 overall and 2-8-0 in league competition.

S&T seized an early 1-0 lead in the first half when Morgan Sikora (Highland, Ill./Highland) took the ball from a UIS player in the middle of the field and proceeded to convert on a breakaway for the score at the 10:59 mark.  The unassisted tally by Sikora represented the midfielder's team-leading fourth of this season.

Illinois Springfield would bounce back three minutes later at 14:02 to net the equalizer as Maggie Juhlin took a pass from Erin Bolskar at the top of the penalty box area and fired a shot from 15 yards out past S&T senior goalkeeper Liz Carrano (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) for her third goal of the fall to even the match at one apiece.

S&T's game-winning goal would occur at 54:54 of the second half when defender Carli Tastad (Millstadt, Ill./Belleville West) redirected the ball into the UIS goal for her first of this season.  Morgan Sikora (Highland, Ill./Highland) set up Tastad with a pass from the end line to notch an assist while junior forward Kayla Foster (Sand Springs, Okla./Charles Page) was also credited with an assist on the goal.

Overall, the Miners held a 9-8 edge in total shots as both team generated five apiece in the first 45 minutes of play.  In corner kicks, the Prairie Stars claimed a 4-3 advantage as all occurred in the first half while S&T received two opportunities in the second half of action.  

Carrano played all 90 minutes in net for the Miners and made two saves in earning her first win of the season while UIS' Paloma Guijarro stopped two S&T shots on net in also going the distance.

Both Sikora and Tastad accounted for all of S&T's four shots in the match with two shots apiece, which included a shot on goal for each.  

Missouri S&T honored its seven senior student-athletes - Liz Carrano (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township), midfielder Lauren Tolan (Columbia, Ill./Columbia), defender Andrea Aller (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley), midfielder Mikaela Mockenhaupt (Oswego, Ill./Oswego), Morgan Sikora (Highland, Ill./Highland), Carli Tastad (Millstadt, Ill./Belleville West), and midfielder Taylor Vollmer (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) prior to today's home finale.

The Miners, who have won two of their last three outings, will play their final three conference regular-season matches on the road, beginning this Friday, Oct. 19, against the Lewis Flyers in Romeoville, Ill.  A 7:30 p.m. (CT) start is scheduled for the match at LU's Lewis Stadium.