MVC Round-up: Middleton honored after Lady Vikings shutout win

Junior Jessica Yach had a goal and two assists Saturday as the Missouri Valley College women's soccer team blanked Heart of America Conference rival MidAmerica Nazarene for a 3-0 home win.

Yach set up sophomore Amanda Rainer and junior Megan Abramczyk for scores during the first half and then connected on an unassisted shot in the second.

Valley limited the Lady Pioneers (6-5-1, 3-1 HAAC) to three shots on goal, all handled by junior Hannah Harrison. The Lady Vikings' defensive play in this match and a 1-0 loss to No. 10 Benedictine four days earlier helped earn the league's "defensive player of the week" honor for sophomore Patsy Middleton of Springfield.

Valley's non-conference match Wednesday against at Hannibal-LaGrange was cancelled due to inclement weather. The Lady Vikings (3-8, 1-3) will host Baker for a league contest Saturday.

Men's Soccer

The Valley men's soccer team scored twice during the second half Saturday to snap a 1-1 tie and beat MidAmerica Nazarene, 3-1, in a Heart of America Conference match at Marshall.

Freshman Liam McInally passed off for both the Vikings' goals after the break, first to junior Ryan Pow and then to sophomore Steven Crane. All three are among the 10 Vikings from the United Kingdom.

Sophomore Eduardo Da Silva got Valley's first goal, assisted by senior Carlos Arriba.

Freshman Trent Remmich scored for the Pioneers (4-8, 1-2 HAAC).

Senior Igor Lima made eight saves for the Vikings (7-3-2, 2-1), who have won four of their last five matches.

Women's Volleyball

The Lady Vikings' volleyball team saw their losing streak extend to six straight matches Tuesday when it was swept at Heart of America Conference foe William Jewell, 25-19, 25-15, 25-15.

The Lady Cardinals (9-14, 3-2 HAAC) limited Valley to a .133-percent attack efficiency, in the process holding senior Tricia Mowatt -- the league's kills leader at 4.3 per game -- to five spikes.

Junior Miranda Groth led the Lady Vikings with eight kills and eight blocks and freshman Jessica Gates had 16 digs.

Valley was coming off a pair of weekend road losses to Kansas schools. Friends (14-4) took a 19-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17, 15-6 decision from the Lady Vikings on Friday and Haskell Indian Nations (4-13) defeated them Saturday, 25-22, 29-31, 25-21, 25-1.

Valley (8-14, 2-4) played in the William Woods Triangular on Thursday.

Cross Country

LIBERTY -- Junior Taylor Whitacre (22:20.07) led all Missouri Valley cross country runners Saturday with an eight-place finish in the William Jewell Invitational.

The Lady Vikings also saw freshman K.C. Short (23:28.41) place 15th and freshman Natalie Cotto-Garcia (23:58.94) 17th in the 31-runner field for fourth place in the meet. Two local athletes, freshman Rachel Gonzalez (24:58.79) of Slater and senior Tracy Plexico (26:53.78) of Marshall, came in 24th and 25th, respectively.

The Valley men's team was topped by senior Bernard Ronoh (29:41.95), 12th out of 41 entries, while Matt Leonard (30:56.63) came in 17th. The Vikings were also fourth in the team standings.

Central Methodist took both titles.

Valley will be in Lamoni, Iowa, on Oct. 24 for the Graceland Invitational.