Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

Oct. 26, 2021 - Clocking in to the national rankings this week at No. 9 for the second week in a row, the Loras College women's soccer team (16-0-1, 8-0-0 A-R-C) closed out American Rivers Conference play against the Kohawks from Coe College (3-13-1, 2-6-0 A-R-C) Tuesday night as they celebrated Latinx Heritage Night at the Rock Bowl. The Duhawks cruised to a 4-0 victory to finish the season with a perfect record in conference play and recorded their first-ever undefeated regular season in program history. 

The first half of the game saw the Duhawks only put one on the board in the 38th minute as defender Olivia Lansing made her way into the box on a throw in that was taken by Brynn Jacobi who connected with Savannah Johnson to put a pass in the box that bounced around and ended up at Lansing's feet to put past Coe goalkeeper Alex Montalbano for her first goal of the season to put the Duhawks up 1-0 at the half. 

Five minutes into the second half, Emily Perhats notched her fifth goal of the season as Ryleigh O'Brien found her in the box to put the shot home to go ahead by two before O'Brien had her turn a minute later as she and Perhats traded scoring and assisting with Jacobi joining in on the play for her second assist of the game, bringing the score to 3-0 after 51 minutes of play. 

Freshman forward Lauren Riggle gave the Duhawks a comfortable four-goal lead in the 69th minute as NCAA Division III assist leader Payton McDonnell continued adding to her total on the year, finding Riggle down field to tuck away her third goal of the season and solidify the 4-0 win. 

As has been the story all season, the Duhawks commanded the game offensively through regulation with 37 total shots in the game, 18 on net, while holding the Kohawks to just one shot in the game. Perhats led the night with six shots in the game while Abby Eriksen rifled off five. Senior goalkeeper Megan Wick made the start in net before fellow senior Hannah Mirimanian came in in the second half and faced the lone shot of the game for Coe, making the easy save to come together for a combined clean sheet. 

The undefeated season comes as a major landmark for the Duhawks, as the last time a soccer team at Loras went undefeated was the men's team in 2007, a team in which head coach Matt Pucci was a part of as a student-athlete. That year, the Duhawks made it to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. 

The Duhawks' first-place finish in the A-R-C standings see them receive a bye in the first round of the A-R-C Tournament and will host the winner of the No. 4 Luther College vs. No. 5 University of Dubuque game on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at the Rock Bowl. The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 PM.