UNL women’s soccer bounces back to win after tough losses

Waves of shock surged through the stadium as the referee pulled out the red card.

The reaction wasn't surprising. What had just transpired was one of the rarest events seen in the beautiful game — a goalie had just been red-carded.

As Nebraska redshirt freshman Emma Stevens walked off the field seething just 21 minutes into her home debut Friday afternoon, the Huskers were a player down and faced an unusual situation.

The ejection forced NU to sub out a starting midfielder in order to replace Stevens with Tara Macdonald, a backup goalie who was nursing a sprained wrist.

This scenario would bring out the worst in a number of teams. For the Cornhuskers, though, losing a goalie didn't lead to catastrophe.

It led to victory.

After Stevens was thrown out of the game for handling a ball outside the penalty box, the Huskers allowed just three Loyola Chicago shots on goal and rode a pair of Molly Thomas second-half scores to a 2-0 victory in the first game of the Adidas Husker Classic Friday at Nebraska Soccer Field.

As stunned as fans were after Stevens' red card — many thought she had touched the ball to keep it from flattening her face — the Huskers never panicked, in part because of their faith in Macdonald, last year's starter.

"They're both great keepers," forward Morgan Marlborough said. "We don't have to change what we do if (Macdonald) is in. We've trained and played with both. The comfort level is the same."

Due to the one-game suspension that comes with a red card, the Huskers were again without Stevens' services Sunday against Loyola Maryland, but still dominated 2-0 in an aggressive defensive match that, at times, resembled a back-alley brawl.  

Facing an opponent that seemed content to grab onto Husker jerseys if they couldn't stay in front of them, the Huskers went up in the 24th minute on a free-kick goal by Marlborough.

Nebraska's defense, much maligned after allowing five goals in an exhibition against Denver and another three against New Mexico in the season debut, was staunch, allowing no shots on goal in the first half.

"My job is tons easier when they can't get a shot off," Macdonald said. "I really appreciated it. We had great organization today. There were plays in the first half where I didn't even need to be there."

The defense was aided by an especially physical effort by forward Jaclyn White, who matched Loyola's aggressiveness and was a major reason the game featured 21 fouls.

"We love Jaclyn being Jaclyn," Thomas said. "We think it's awesome that she's a player that can go in and make plays like that. It gives everyone more energy."

That love for physical play has become an identity for this Nebraska team, despite the season being just three games old.

"We like playing physical teams, because we like to play that way too," Thomas said. "It's a good match-up for us when it's like that, with the ball up in the middle and us fighting for it.

"We have no problem playing like that."

Another thing Thomas has no problem with is scoring. She tallied another goal in the 72nd minute on a rebound off a near miss by Marlborough, giving her a hat trick for the weekend.

While at times the Huskers played sloppy over the weekend, their overall solid play was welcome to the players, especially in the rough 3-0 loss at New Mexico.

"We like to wear teams down, and we were able to do that," Marlborough said. "We need to keep working on being on the same page mentally, though. If one of us is out of the game mentally, we won't be able to work hard as a team."

That hard work will become even more pivotal heading into their next game, a tough road tilt against future Big Ten Conference foe Indiana on Saturday.

If Thomas' thoughts on the subject are any indication, though, the team seems to be doing just fine at the moment.

"It feels good to score for the team, but it doesn't really matter who scores," Thomas said. "Every player needs to be involved to score; it's never just me that scores the goal.

"I love scoring, but we need to win — that's the goal."

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