Coyle strikes again in Pride's 1-0 win over Culver-Stockton
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Hosting their final regular season game of the 2025 schedule, the Clarke University women's soccer team guaranteed a postseason berth with a 1-0 Wednesday night win over Culver-Stockton College at Burrows Field.
In a game they knew they needed to end with a positive result, the Pride played a dominant first half that felt like field was tilted towards their offensive third, outshooting the Wildcats 9-0 over 45 minutes and taking two corner kicks, but coming up empty on the scoreboard as the game remained at a scoreless 0-0 tie at the half.
In the second half, CU would continue to possess the ball for a majority of the early going when Jayden Black was fouled near midfield about 15 mintues into the second half, giving Clarke a free kick that Morgan Lock would step to.
Lock would deliver a ball into the box that bounced around off of a few CSC defenders and fell to open space for sophomore Natalie Coyle to run onto it, fire a shot over the Culver-Stockton goalkeeper for the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal with exactly 30 minutes left in the game.
The goal for Coyle is the second-straight game notching a goal and a game-winner for the Farley, Iowa native as she played 66 minutes on Wednesday after setting her career-high of 73 minutes on Saturday in the 2-0 win at Baker, where she scored the opening goal of the game on Oct. 25 for her first career goal.
The Wildcats put on a late push in an attempt to tie the game with their 2025 season on the line, as they took their only shots of the game with three in the final 5:20 of the game that also led to CU goalkeeper Abigail Turley's lone save for her third individual shutout in her last four starts to secure the win.
With the win, the Pride solidified their spot in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament, capturing 19 points in the standings with their 6-6-1 Heart record as they currently sit in sixth place with the only chance for movement with teams finishing up their regular season on Saturday, Nov. 1 is if Missouri Baptist University closes out their season with a win over MidAmerica Nazarene University.
If the Spartans win over the Pioneers, the Pride will fall to seventh place to set up a Heart Tournament Quarterfinal appearance against No. 2 seed Missouri Valley College and if there is a draw or MNU wins that game on Saturday, it will be a rematch of the 2024 Heart Quarterfinal matchup with Clarke set to visit MidAmerica Nazarene after the Pioneers and Pride faced off at Burrows Field in last season's quarterfinal matchup.
The Heart Tournament Quarterfinal round is set to be played on Wednesday, Nov. 5 as the time and place is still clearly to be determined, updates will be given on social media when the bracket is set following the Saturday games across the Heart.