Women's Soccer Opens Season with 3-2 Win
Hobson scores twice as Lewis wins debut
MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/05/2026) — The Monmouth College women's soccer team got two goals from senior co-captain Mariah Hobson (Princeton, Illinois) and held on to beat Lakeland 3-2 on Friday night. The season opening win is also the first career head coaching win for Rhys Lewis. Saturday's scheduled home game against St. Mary's has been canceled due to the excessive heat in Monmouth.
The Scots got rolling right away on Friday afternoon as Hobson scored a fantastic goal just 90 seconds into the match. Natalie Morrow (Silvis, Illinois) picked up the assist and the Scots held the 1-0 lead for a half hour. The Muskies tied the game with 13 minutes left in the half and the score remained 1-1 through halftime.
"We wanted to get on them early and that's exactly what we did," said Lewis. "This is a very nice building block for us to start the season."
Ten minutes into the second half, Morrow and Hobson combined on another goal. This time, Morrow laid it off to Hobson who blasted the ball past the Lakeland keeper from 30 yards out. Just 11 minutes later, Monmouth made it 3-1 as Yoselim Hernandez (Monmouth, Illinois) headed home a corner kick from Jackie Contreras (Peoria, Illinois). Lakeland scored with seven minutes remaining but the Scots held on for the 3-2 win.
"We are always working on corners, set plays, and shots like that in practice so nice to see it pay off today," said Lewis. "We have a handful of players who can play multiple positions and that helps us to operate and do what we want to do."
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Goalkeepers Cadence Covert (Pekin, Illinois) and Izzy Seipold (Peoria, Illinois) split the game with each getting 45 minutes ... Covert made two saves in her college debut ... Sophie Haynes (Pekin, Illinois) and Lily Palazzolo (Washington, Michigan) both started in their college debuts ... Ruth Okrasinski (Charleston, Illinois) and Tatianna Talivaa (Monmouth, Illinois) also played their first games ... Alison Griffin (Geneseo, Illinois), Contreras, Hernandez and Ali Barnum (Pekin, Illinois) played all 90 minutes ... Monmouth out shot Lakeland 27-5 and shots on goal were 18-4 ... Hobson, Taylor Freeman (Washington, Illinois), Haynes, Palazzolo and Morgan Kistler (Kokomo, Indiana) all took three shots on goal ... Hobson is the active career leader in goals (13) and points (29) while Contreras has seven career assists ... The Scots are 2-0 all-time against LakelandWith Saturday's game canceled, the Scots return to the field on Wednesday at Blackburn,
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Nathan Baliva 309-457-2322 nbaliva@monmouthcollege.eduShare this Story
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