QUINCY, Ill. – The Panthers finished their weekend road trip with arguably one of their toughest matchups in their 2018 schedule. Davenport played Quincy University, who is currently ranked number 11 in the country, and defeated the Hawks 2-0 on their home turf. The Panthers bounced back after their loss at Truman State and played stellar soccer for 90 minutes against Quincy.
 
THE BASICS
Final Score: Davenport-2 | Quincy University-0
Location: Quincy, Ill.
Records: Davenport 1-1 | Quincy 1-1


 
SHOTS PER HALF (Shots on goal)
First Half: DU-5 | QU-9
Second Half: DU-10 | QU-10
Total: DU-15 (9) | QU-19 (5)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Panthers were prepared for the challenge of facing a ranked opponent and thrived in the moment. The first half started off with a couple scoring opportunities for Davenport. Ashlyn Skidmore and Katherine Steiner took shots from about 30 yards out that narrowly missed the net. Skidmore;s shot hit the crossbar and Steiner's went slightly high over the crossbar. The next scoring chance came when DU was awarded a free kick and Madeleine Zayan got a head on the ball and flicked it towards the net, but the Hawks keeper was there to catch it. Zayan nearly had a breakaway opportunity but got slide tackled by a Hawk defender, who was give a yellow card on the play. Quincy had a good amount of offensive pressure down the stretch of the first half. The Hawks had three corner kicks and five shots over the final 15 minutes.
 
The Hawks continued to hound Macie DeWyse in the net, testing her over the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Quincy had eight shots and seven corner kicks over the 15-minute period, with four of those shots being blocked by DU defenders and DeWyse earning one save. The momentum shifted the Panthers way when Alayna Hilgendorf subbed into the game during the 62^nd minute of the game. Hilgendorf put the Panthers on the board with a goal 76 seconds after she subbed into the game. She took a long ball and carried it with a defender at her back and buried the shot into the bottom left corner from about seven yards out. This was the Panthers first goal of the season and huge boost of confidence for DU's offense. Following the goal by Hilgendorf, the Panthers continued to put pressure on the Hawks defense. Davenport recorded four more shots before they netted another goal. The second goal of the game was scored by Skidmore, who riffled a shot from about 25 yards out into the left upper 90 of the net, assisted by Alice Linsell. The Panthers controlled the ball for the majority of the game, limiting the Hawks to only one shot after Skidmore's goal in the 74^th minute. Davenport nearly scored a third goal later when Sabrina Stone broke away from the defense and sent a shot above the keeper's hands that hit the cross bar with 43 seconds remaining in the game.
 
Up Next
The Panthers remain on the road next week as they travel back to Illinois to play at the University of Saint Francis (Ill.). The game will be played on Sunday, Sep. 9 at 2 pm ET.
 
Story by: Devin Steiner
 
Picture credit: Tyler Triemstra