Panther soccer opens season with 1-0 victory at St. Thomas

Thursday, August 17

St. Paul, Minn.

4 p.m.

University of Northern Iowa

1-0-0, 0-0-0

St. Thomas (Minn.)

0-1-0, 0-0-0

UNI

St. Thomas (MN)

UNI Soccer vs. Iowa State (Exhibition) / Aug. 7, 2023

Photo by: Joshua Dinkelman

Panther soccer opens season with 1-0 victory at St. Thomas

8/17/2023 6:34:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score FINAL STATS

UNI posts wins in consecutive season openers for the first time since 2012. Faces Viterbo on Saturday in home opener.

ST. PAUL, Minn. --- Morgan Barnette netted the first goal of her collegiate career late in the first half as the Panthers held off a persistent St. Thomas offense in a 1-0 victory on Thursday afternoon to open the 2023 season on the road.

After missing all of last season due to injury, Barnette broke through on a breakaway pass from freshman Marissa Gross, who recorded her first career assist in her first game as a Panther in the 37th minute for the lone score of the match. The victory marks UNI's first win all-time against the Tommies, who made the jump to Division I athletics in 2021. The all-time series record now stands even at 1-1-1.

St. Thomas applied pressure on senior goalkeeper Caitlin Richards throughout the match with 56% of possessions, putting seven shots on goal, including 16 total shot attempts. The Tommies also took nine corner kicks to UNI's two. Forward Lauren Heinsch led the Panthers with a pair of shot attempts, including one of UNI's three shots on goal. Barnette, Gross, Caroline Hazen, Ashley Harrington and Denise Camarena each took one shot attempt in the win.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

UNI's victory on Thursday marks only the second time in program history, and first time since 2011 and 2012 that the Panthers have won consecutive season opening matches. UNI beat Eastern Illinois in the 2011 opener at home by a 1-0 score, and beat North Dakota the following year in a 5-0 shutout.
The Panthers are now 10-7-7 all-time in the first match of the season, and 4-1-2 in season openers under head coach Bruce Erickson.

Lauren Heinsch's two shot attempts against St. Thomas moves her into fourth on UNI's all-time shot attempts list with 138, passing Sydney Hayden's total of 136 (2016-19).
Posting a clean scoring sheet with seven saves, goalkeeper Caitlin Richards has now posted 12 career shutouts, third-most in UNI history.

UP NEXT
The Panthers return home to take on the Viterbo V-Hawks on Saturday, Aug. 19 in their home opener. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT at the UNI Soccer Field. The game will also be broadcast live on ESPN+.