Freshman Amber Guenther and junior Sarah Leyendecker showed up in a big way for the Incarnate Word women's soccer match against Eastern New Mexico University on Friday afternoon at Benson Stadium – scoring and setting up teammates en route to a 4-1 Cardinal victory.
Guenther got the Cardinals (7-3-2 overall, 5-1 Lone Star Conference) on the board in just nine minutes, heading in a corner kick from Emily Hernandez that spiked into the turf, under the goalkeeper's arms and up under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead.
Fellow freshman Sydney Solomon scored her 4th goal of the season in the 27th minute, redirecting a long shot by Leslie Smith for the 2-0 lead, and then Leyendecker got her second goal of the year in the 29th minute.
Leyendecker was running to the center of the penalty area while several players battled for the ball on the left side of the box. Freshman Sarah Flores saw Leyendecker and set her up with a pass right in front of the goal with no one to stop the shot.
The goal gave Incarnate Word the 3-0 lead and the score stayed that way into halftime.
In the second half, UIW fell victim to a set-play in the 68th minute, where ENMU's Andrea Lister put a free kick on-goal and had it redirected by the head of Brook Serano to end the shutout bid.
The Cardinals responded, however, with just over three minutes to play, as Guenther got her second goal of the game (fifth of the season) off a pass from Layendecker, who threaded the helper right at the feet of a streaking Guenther 10 yards in front of the goal.
Incarnate Word is now unbeaten in its last six games (five wins, one tie). They will host West Texas A&M University at noon this Sunday before next Friday's showdown with Midwestern State University (currently alone in first place in the LSC) at 6 p.m.
