ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – It was just the third game of her collegiate soccer career Sunday afternoon, but Clara Noack clearly didn’t feel any jitters.
In the first home game of her College of Saint Benedict soccer career, Noack scored a pair of goals to lift her team to an overtime win against Wartburg Sunday at the team’s new turf field. For her clutch performance, she has been named this week’s CSB Athlete of the Week.
Noack’s first goal of the game – and her first in a Saint Benedict jersey – marked CSB’s first of the season, and tied things up 1-1 with the Knights, who had scored early in the second half. Teammate Laurel Poole put CSB up 2-1 with a goal a few minutes later, but Wartburg tied the game late to send the two teams to overtime.
The Knights had two shots on net midway through overtime, but goalie Kendall Koenen made both saves to keep her team in the game. Noack struck again in the 98
th minute when her second shot of the day turned into her second goal of the day to lift CSB to its first win of 2018.
Following her big game Sunday, Noack leads the team with two goals and one game-winning goal. This marks the second straight season that a CSB first year has scored multiple goals in a game for the team, as Megan Thompson scored four times against Nebraska Wesleyan during a 2017 game.
Noack and her teammates have a busy week this week, as they play three times – including a pair of home games. Saint Benedict opens MIAC play Wednesday at home against Concordia, then heads to St. Paul to take on St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon before returning home for another nonconference matchup, this time against UW-Eau Claire.
