NORTH NEWTON, Kan. - The Bethel College Women's Soccer team took on the Saint Mary Spires for their final home contest of the 2022 season. The Threshers got on the board first and then the flood gates opened as they score three goals in a span of four minutes on their way to four first half goals. Bethel scored two more goals in the second half as the Spires found one making the final 6-1.

Although the Threshers put up six goals, they only had three goal scorers in the victory: Claire Hedlund, Katy Ponce and Grace Anderson. The trio scored in that order twice during the contest.

Hedlund's 20th goal on the season came as a header on a ball that was put into the box by Miki Harkins from 25 yards out. The ball bounced once before Claire was able to put the ball into the net. 

Ponce found her first goal of the evening just over two minutes later when Sydney Brown played a 50 yard through ball that found Katy one-on-one with the Spire keeper. 

Anderson got in on the action with her 10th goal of the season when she chipped the USM keeper after Hedlund played a ball into the box from 40 yards out.

In the 33rd minute Hedlund stretched the Thresher lead to 4-0 after she had a shot blocked that came right back to her and she shot it again. The second shot deflected off of a Spire defender and the keeper and into the goal. 

After taking a 4-0 lead into the intermission, Ponce poured it on just three and a half minutes into the final 45 minutes. Hedlund played a through ball into the box from 20 yards out to Ponce who was able to beat the keeper to the near post for her fifth goal of the season.

In the 56th minute, the Spires were able to get a goal back after the Bethel defense tried to clear a ball that found a Spire midfielder 31 yards out. She was able to blast a ball into the net ridding the Threshers of a clean sheet.

Anderson finished off the scoring in the 68th minute after Hedlund passed the ball from the near side of the box into the middle where Grace was able to beat the Spire goalie to the near post giving Bethel the 6-1 advantage. 

This was the fifth time this season that the Threshers have scored five goals or more in a contest. Bethel was outshot Saint Mary 17 to 14 with both teams taking 11 shots on goal. Thresher goalkeeper Vanessa Torres turned in a 10 save performance in the win. 

Following the contest the program celebrated the 12 seniors that are leaving the program following the conclusion of the season. Those 12 seniors are: Vanessa Torres, Abby Edson, Cheyenne Lisle, Britney Bayer, Katy Ponce, Taylor Dashney, Jazlyn Reese, Sydney Brown, Miki Harkins, Anna Ranzinger, Ashtin Duerksen and Mariah Vallejo.

Bethel will be back in action for their final regular season KCAC contest as they make the long road trip north to Nebraska to take on the York Panthers. The Threshers will be looking to stay in the hunt of the KCAC playoffs and improve upon their seeding when they kickoff at 1:00 PM.