The 11th ranked Case Western Reserve University women's soccer team started the 2026 campaign with a thrilling 2-1 victory over John Carroll University on Tuesday night at DiSanto Field in Cleveland.
Sophomore Izzy Probst scored both of the team's goals, including the game-winning goal in the 87th minute, to lead the Spartans to victory.
CWRU improved to 1-0-0 on the season while the Blue Streaks dropped to 0-1-0 this season.
Stats and Standouts
- Probst scored twice in one game for the second time in her career, matching her two-goal game against Rose-Hulman in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament last season
- Senior Maya Healy, first-year Sonora Hale, and junior Aly Schellhouse each added two shots for CWRU
- First-years Libby Magnone and Elsa Pringle earned assists in the their first collegiate games
- Junior Ellie Palaian saved three shots in 90 minutes for the Spartans
First Half
- The Spartans threatened to score early, earning a corner kick and recording three shots in the first three minutes
- Probst put the team ahead in just the 10th minute of play, making a long run down the far side of the pitch before cutting inside at the top of the box. She went past a defender and fired a strike into the lower corner of the goal
- In addition to the goal, the first half hour of the game had 10 shots, seven for the Spartans and three for the Blue Streaks. The team's attempted just one shot for the remainder of the period
Second Half
- CWRU secured three early corner kicks, but managed just one shot on the set pieces
- The Blue Streaks tied the score in the 72nd minute, shifting the momentum of the match
- Neither team was able to break the deadlock until the waning minutes of the game
- A high ball was lobbed into the box, and Magnone kicked it toward the goal. Pringle shifted the ball to the feet of Probst, who beat the goalkeeper in a 1-on-1 scenario inside the eight-yard box to give CWRU the lead with 3:02 remaining
- The Spartans held on, not allowing a shot for the rest of the game to secure the win
Spartan Notes
- CWRU has won its last seven season-opening games and 14 of its last 15 such contests with an overall mark of 29-11-2 in the first game of the year
- The Spartans improved to 19-8-2 against JCU in the teams' histories
- Probst led the squad with eight shots with Case Western Reserve outshooting John Carroll 16-6 in the game
- The Spartans had eight corner kicks in the game and did not conceded one
- Graduate students Sophie Berman and Isabella Guzman, first-years Hale, Elizabeth DeHond, Magnone, Elsa Pringle, and Hannah Ku all made their CWRU debuts
Up Next
Case Western Reserve hosts Pacific Lutheran on Friday, September 4 at 3 p.m.