Indianapolis, Ind. — As budding regional rivals squared off for the fourth time in the last two years, the No. 5-ranked Marian Knights continued their winning ways over the No. 11-ranked Aquinas Saints women's soccer team with a 5-1 victory Saturday (Sept. 10) afternoon at the St. Vincent Field in Indianapolis, Ind.  

The Knights have won all four of the recent matches between the two high-powered programs. The victory on Saturday kept Marian undefeated at 6-0-1 overall this season while AQ slipped to 3-2-1 overall.

Junior forward Naomi Walters scored the first two goals for Marian in the 5th and 18th minute. The opening tally was poked past Aquinas freshman goalkeeper Kayla Shuk with another AQ defender on her back. Walters' second goal was more flashy as she curled a shot into the top right corner. She made a move on her defender to create the space for the shot at the top of the 18-yard box.

Maya Decker assisted the first goal while the second strike went unassisted.

From bad to worse, Aquinas gave up a third goal in the 34th minute to a wide-open Allie Schlom on a pass from Ryli John. The connection between the two seniors gave Marian a 3-0 lead at halftime.

AQ was surging with a bulk of the possession to start the second half, and even had two quality scoring chances in the 68th minute. Katelyn Kahael pushed the first opportunity wide of the right post before Brittney Carter smacked the crossbar from distance roughly 30 seconds later. 

Flipping the field, Marian reacted to almost giving up two goals by scoring two more goals. Senior forward Erin Oleksak added to her all-time program record by notching her 64th career goal in the 69th minute. Then, Schlom buried her second goal of the game in the 70th minute.

To recap, four possible goals in the span of three minutes ended with Marian netting two of them and taking a commanding 5-0 lead with 20 minutes remaining.

Aquinas broke up the shutout bid for Marian goalkeeper Noelle Rolfsen in the 77th minute. The Knights were unable to successfully clear a free kick and then watched a shot from sophomore midfielder Sandra Segovia maneuver through traffic before finding the back of the net. Coming off the bench, it was Segovia's first goal of the season and her second collegiate goal for the Saints.

Marian narrowly outshot Aquinas 15-13 (9-6 shots on target). Reigning WHAC Offensive Player of the Week, Laia Cunill, led the Saints with three shots (one on target).

AQ picked up five yellow cards and committed five more fouls (15-10).  

The No. 11 Saints are back in action next Saturday (Sept. 17) afternoon with a homecoming doubleheader with the AQ men's soccer team. The men will play first at noon against Kalamazoo College with the women to follow at 3 p.m. against Mount Vernon Nazarene. Both matches will be played at the AQ Athletic Field.