Griffin, Kistler Score as Scots Beat Grinnell 2-0
MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/19/2026) — The Monmouth College women's soccer team started Midwest Conference play with a 2-0 home win over Grinnell on Saturday. The Fighting Scots (4-1, 1-0) continue one of their best starts in school history with goals in each half and a clean sheet on defense.
"Great victory for us," said head coach Rhys Lewis. "They are a tough team to play against and it was really good for us to get a result and get the win today. Both our goalies did outstanding work today but everyone put in a shift for 90 minutes out there."
Just 10 minutes into the game, Monmouth took a 1-0 lead with their first real opportunity. Izzy Seipold (Peoria, Illinois) caught a Grinnell cross and quickly played the ball up field from her own box. The Scots switched onto the right side as Allison Griffin (Geneseo, Illinois) found Morgan Kistler (Kokomo, Indiana) down the wing. Kistler fed Mariah Hobson (Princeton, Illinois) into the box and she quickly dropped it off to Griffin and the senior found the top corner for a 1-0 lead.
"An early goal always helps you relax and being able to get it when we did really helped us," said Lewis.
Seipold made two saves in the rest of the half and the Scots also made a team save as a ball was cleared off the line in a wild sequence with 20 minutes left in the half.
Freshman Cadence Covert (Peoria, Illinois) took over in goal in the second half and had to make a save within 90 seconds. She made a save off a corner kick and then another as the Pioneers attack kept firing. Two more saves before the hour mark kept the Scots on top 1-0.
Grinnell had another corner kick and then Covert made two saves in a row with just over 10 minutes to play. On the next sequence the Scots got a breakaway and launched the ball deep into the Pioneers territory. Kistler won the race for the ball as the Grinnell keeper came out of the box. Kistler dribbled around the lunging keeper and scored into a wide open net to seal the game.
"Great way to finish the game and get that second goal while we were under siege in the second half," said Lewis. "
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Seipold made two saves and Covert made a season and career-high nine saves ... Taylor Freeman (Washington, Illinois), Ali Barnum (Pekin, Illinois) and Jackie Contreras (Peoria, Illinois) played all 90 minutes ... Hobson has four career assists and 30 points ... Kistler has 12 career goals, five assists and 29 pointsGriffin has scored at least one goal in all four years and she has eight career goals, four in MWC action ... Shots were 26-3 in favor of Grinnell and shots on goal were 12-2 ... Grinnell leads the all-time series 27-5-3 ... The teams have tied each of the last two seasons with Monmouth's last win coming in 2021 ... The Scots play a non-conference game at Greenville on Tuesday before hosting MWC opponent Lawrence at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
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