{"id":453913,"date":"2026-10-02T03:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T03:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/453913\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T03:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T03:42:11","slug":"egan-scores-twice-as-wku-shuts-out-sam-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/453913\/","title":{"rendered":"Egan Scores Twice as WKU Shuts Out Sam Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BOWLING GREEN, Ky. \u2013\u00a0The Hilltoppers (7-1-4) earned their first CUSA win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Sam Houston Thursday night at the WKU Soccer Complex. The Hilltoppers move to 1-1-0 in CUSA play.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nHOW IT HAPPENED<br \/>\nThe Hilltoppers came out aggressive early in the first half.\u00a0In the 12th minute, <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/maggie-bellair\/6513\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6513\" target=\"_blank\">Maggie Bellair<\/a> found <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/danielle-lewin\/6518\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6518\" target=\"_blank\">Danielle Lewin<\/a>, who threaded a pass to <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/makenna-egan\/6514\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6514\" target=\"_blank\">Makenna Egan<\/a> for the first shot and goal of the match.\u00a0Two minutes and 15 seconds later,\u00a0Egan took on a defender 1v1 before finding the back of the net from the top of the box for her second goal of the night to put the Hilltoppers up 2-0. The Tops added three more shots on goal before halftime, but could not the back of the net.<\/p>\n<p>The Hilltoppers carried their offensive attack into the second half. In the 59th minute, Lewin fired a shot, but the attempt was deflected by the diving goalkeeper, with the rebound falling to <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/alyvia-walls\/6528\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6528\" target=\"_blank\">Alyvia Walls<\/a>, whose follow-up went just wide of the left post. <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/tyler-roth\/6552\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6552\" target=\"_blank\">Tyler Roth<\/a> followed suit in the 67th minute, firing a laser toward the top corner, but the Bearkats&#8217; goalkeeper got a hand to it to keep the Hilltoppers&#8217; at a two-goal lead. In the final minutes, Sam Houston made one last offensive push, but goalkeeper <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/mia-riddick\/6524\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6524\" target=\"_blank\">Mia Riddick<\/a> came up with a clutch save on a shot toward the top of the net to secure the shutout.\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nQUOTABLE<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n&#8220;We wanted to start strong,&#8221; said Head Coach Jason Neidell on tonight&#8217;s bounce-back win. &#8220;We set a goal to score in the first 15 minutes and not only did we score once, but we scored twice. Obviously, that was very decisive in the game. My message to them after the game was just great job. We needed three points and this was a big game for us.&#8221;\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n&#8220;I think just getting my confidence back in front of the goal was important,&#8221; said sophomore forward <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/makenna-egan\/6514\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6514\" target=\"_blank\">Makenna Egan<\/a> on her two-goal performance. &#8220;I have had some near misses in the past few games, so I think finally getting my shots low and on target was working for me tonight.&#8221;<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nNOTABLES&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\tThis was the Hilltoppers&#8217; first CUSA win of the season&#13;<br \/>\n\tWKU outshot the Bearkats 16-6, with Sam Houston only recording three shots on goal.&#13;<br \/>\n\tThe shutout was the Hilltoppers&#8217; eighth of the season\u00a0&#13;<br \/>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/makenna-egan\/6514\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6514\" target=\"_blank\">Makenna Egan<\/a> scored her fifth and sixth goals of the season, surpassing her five-goal total from last season and marking her second brace of the season&#13;<br \/>\n\tJunior <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/maggie-bellair\/6513\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6513\" target=\"_blank\">Maggie Bellair<\/a> recorded her third assist of the season and the fifth of her career\u00a0&#13;<br \/>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/danielle-lewin\/6518\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6518\" target=\"_blank\">Danielle Lewin&#8217;s<\/a> assist was her third this season and the seventh of her career&#13;<br \/>\n\tGoalkeeper <a href=\"https:\/\/wkusports.com\/sports\/womens-soccer\/roster\/mia-riddick\/6524\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6524\" target=\"_blank\">Mia Riddick<\/a> finished the match with three saves and recorded her sixth shutout of the season\u00a0&#13;<br \/>\n\tWKU moves to 3-1-0 against Sam Houston all-time&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<br \/>\nNEXT UP<br \/>\nThe Hilltoppers will host CUSA opponent Missouri State on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 12 PM at the WKU Soccer Complex. Admission to all WKU Soccer games at the WKU Soccer Complex is free.\u00a0<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOWLING GREEN, Ky. \u2013\u00a0The Hilltoppers (7-1-4) earned their first CUSA win of the season with a 2-0 victory&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-453913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}