The Malone University women's soccer team defeated the Lake Erie Storm Thursday afternoon 3-0. The Pioneers move to 5-1-0 on the season and pick up their second Great Midwest Athletic Conference win of the season. The Storm fall to 4-2-2, 1-2-1 in the G-MAC.
 
Malone went on the attack early in the contest, rattling off shot after shot at the Strom keeper. In the 20th minute, the Pioneers broke through with a goal from senior Riley Nicholson from long range.
 
"I am very grateful to have the support of my team," said Nicholson after the match. "Together everybody achieves more and hopefully we can carry this energy out for the remainder of the season. I am humbled to be a part of our program here at Malone!"
 
Before fans were even seated again after Nicholson's goal, Danielle Lung made it 2-0 just two minutes later. Lung received a long outlet pass and dribbled through the teeth of the defense and sent a left-footed strike into the right corner of the net. The goal is Lung's seventh of the season. Seven goals in a season is the most since 2016 when Christine Najjar put up 13 goals.
 
Lake Erie worked to cut the deficit, with Carley Kandel sending a shot off the post in the 31st minute. The Pioneer defense stood tall and kept the Storm off the board when they had a few opportunities late in the period.
 
Early in the second half, Malone capped their day with a goal from Kirsten Hilty. Hilty gathered a loose ball inside the six yard box and scored to make it 3-0. This was the team's 15th goal of the season, giving them more goals in the 2019 season than they had all of 2018.
 
As a team, the Pioneers took 19 shots compared to the Storm shooting nine.
 
Danielle Lung took a team high five shots, along with three from Sally Culig and two from Payton Beech, Riley Nicholson and Kirsten Hilty.
 
Midfielders Alexa Langenfeld, Megan Fuller, Allison Schmeltzer, Anna Schmeltzer and Savannah Ebin put in quality minutes and kept the ball in the offensive zone for 62% of the time the Pioneers had the ball.
 
On defense, Natalie Martorana and Lindsey Soltisz played the full 90 minutes, as well as big contributions from Brooke Lindenschmidt, Andrea Fink, and backup keeper Jessica Morgan.
 
Goalkeeper Haleigh Seman picked up her fourth win this season and tallied three saves in the game.
 
The Pioneers look to keep the wins rolling this Saturday when Ursuline College comes to Canton for a match at 4 pm.