COLUMBUS, Miss. – The W women's soccer had the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's (SLIAC) unbeaten, first place, Westminster College team on the ropes early, before a pair of second-half penalty kick goals made the difference in a 3-2 setback at home. The loss dropped the Owls to 2-11-1 (1-6-0 SLIAC), while the Blue Jays escaped with a record of 8-5-0 (7-0-0 SLIAC).
In spite of the loss, it proved to be a thrilling Senior Day performance for the MUW faithful, as the team said "thank you" to no less than 10 members of the squad capping their careers in 2026. Recognized in pre-game ceremonies were:
Cam Lopez,
Asia Glass,
Avery Bartlett,
Abby Warchus,
Gracie Francisco Carr,
Alison Ragoyta,
Adayah Wood,
Emma Hall,
Lucy Warner, and
Kiersten Taylor.
And it was a pair of those seniors – namely Warchus and Taylor – teaming up to send the home crowd into a frenzy early, at the 4:24 juncture to be exact. Taylor fed the ball to Warchus right of the goal, who then drove it to the back of the net, 1-0.
Considering that these were two teams on the opposite ends of the SLIAC standings, the goal had the feeling of, in the movies, when Rocky Balboa knocked down Apollo Creed for the first time in his career. Suddenly things felt possible, despite the odds.
Then, in the 27th minute, freshman phenom
Reagan Shinn netted her team-leading seventh goal of the year to put the Owls on top, 2-0. Taylor, once again, assisted on the score.
Westminster got one back in the 38th minute. That sent the teams into halftime, with The W holding a 2-1 advantage.
In the second half, however, the Blue Jays were awarded a pair of penalty kick goals less than two minutes apart in the 56th and 58th minutes. The transgressions – for a foul and a hand ball in the box – proved to be the deciding factor, as neither team managed any other scores in nth final segment, 3-2.
MUW's goalkeeper Lopez finished the day with 13 saves, seven in the second half alone.
Warchus took two shots for the Owls, both on frame. Shinn also had two tries (one on-goal) Taylor had one shot attempt, on goal, to account for the five MUW attempts in the match.
The W will cap the 2026 season at home this Wednesday (Oct. 28/5 p.m.) at the Roger Short Soccer Complex.
