Pride 2025 opener finishes at a scoreless draw against St. Thomas
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Welcoming a rarely seen NAIA foe from southern Florida in St. Thoams University, the Clarke University women's soccer team played the Bobcats to a 0-0 draw at Burrows Field on Thursday evening for the 2025 season opener for both teams.
A game that saw a good amount of play in the middle third of the field saw STU hold an early advantage in the first half with more scoring opportunities, taking six total shots, and two on frame at CU's starting goalkeeper, senior Faith Krapfl as Krapfl was up to the task early, making both saves required of her.
The Pride used their opener to get a lot players game action with 23 members of the Clarke roster seeing action on the field to start the season, including seven freshman and two transfers with four of those new faces in the starting lineup for head coach Josh Printz.
CU had more opportunities in the second half of the game on the offensive side, outshooting St. Thomas 3-1 but neither side was still able to break through with Clarke's best opportunity coming in the middle portions of the second half when Elena Kapparos broke behind the Bobcat back line but was unable to get a shot off before STU keeper Isabella Penaranda came off her line to knock the ball away.
Shortly after that play, Pride freshman goalkeeper Abigail Turley, who relieved Krapfl after the halftime break, came out of her box in an attempt to clear the ball as a mishit went to a St. Thomas attacker but good recovery from the Clarke defense never allowed the Bobcats to get a shot towards an open net.
Both teams earned the exact same amount of corner kick attempts throughout the game at 3-3 as both teams earned two in the first half and one in the second half and the STU physical style of defense led to the Bobcats committing three more fouls over the entirety of the game at 13-10.
Pride freshman Malia Silvers was the lone member of the team to play a full 90 minutes, getting the start at center back in her collegiate debut as she shared that back line with senior Morgan Lock, sophomore Hailey Packer, and fellow freshman Cali Koepke for a majority of the game with those three other players all playing 65 or more minutes in the game.
Abby Prunty and Keylilah Gutierrez played the most minutes in the midfield for CU at 62 and 73 minutes respectively, and the forward trio Laryssa Pritchard at striker then Jayden Black and Jennifer Tenney-Sierra at the wings led the attacking players all with 54 minutes.
Clarke women's soccer will continue the August of all home games with their next contest coming on Saturday, Aug. 23 when they host College of Saint Mary at Burrows Field for a 4:00 p.m. CT start at Burrows Field.