Wiemann's hat trick leads to 3-1 Pride win over No. 19 MidAmerica Nazarene
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Hosting their second-straight NAIA ranked opponent, the Clarke University women's soccer team earned their first ranked win since 2016 with a 3-1 win over over No. 19 MidAmerica Nazarene University on Friday night.
The star of the day was Bailey Wiemann as the Pride senior forward recorded her first hat trick since joining the team as a transfer from Wisconsin-Green Bay in the 2023 season as she opened the scoring in the eighth minute to make it 1-0 CU early.
With that score holding until halftime, it would be the Pioneers who would strike first in the second half when Thayline Teixeira broke free in the 18-yard box fired her first shot that would be saved by Clarke goalkeeper Faith Krapfl before the rebound would bounce back right to Teixeira for the Brazil native to finish her second shot in the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the 56th minute.
The game would stay tied before a Pride counter attack would break out with Morgan Catchur on the ball as she would cross a ball in to Laryssa Pritchard for Pritchard's shot to be saved by MNU's Fiona Popetschnig before bouncing right to Wiemann for her second goal to make it 2-1 CU in the 80th minute.
About 20 seconds after the ball was put back into play, Popetschnig, who was playing well out of her box for most of the game, misplayed a ball that would fall right to Wiemann about 45 yards away from the goal as she would loft a ball towards the net that would roll into the open frame to make it 3-1 still in the 80th minute.
Krapfl would finish with six saves on seven shots on goal against coming off of her season-high eight-save performance leading to her Heart Defensive Player of the Week as the Peosta, Iowa native made key saves in the first half to keep the game at 1-0 then more in the second half to keep the late lead at 3-1.
This win over MidAmerica Nazarene marks the first time they've earned a victory over the Pioneers since joining the Heart and as previously mentioned, it's Clarke women's soccer first win over a ranked team since 2016 when the Pride earned a 2-0 win over then No. 11 ranked Grace University in the first season under head coach Josh Printz.
The Pride will be on the road for their next game when they travel to Canton, Mo. for a Wednesday night matchup against Culver-Stockton College on Oct. 2 with a 5:00 p.m. CT scheduled kickoff against the Wildcats.