St. Cloud, Minn.- The Minnesota State (4-1-1, 2-0-0 NSIC) soccer team finished its opening weekend of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action as it beat St. Cloud State 4-1 Sunday. MSU forward Nicole Dooher had a two-goal performance as MSU stays a perfect 2-0-0 in the NSIC.

 

The Mavericks jumped on the board early when sophomore forward Courtney Vallarelli netted a ball from Nicole Dooher just over seven minutes into the game. Minnesota State didn’t wait long to pad the lead as freshman Emily Moris scored her second goal of the season at 15:57 into the first half.

 

SCSU reduced the MSU lead to one goal with 4:12 remaining in the first half when Mary Morhardt put a ball past MSU keeper Molly McGough. The freshman McGough made one save in the first half and three saves in the second half to secure the MSU victory.

 

Dooher scored her first goal of the game in the 50^th minute of the game as Vallarelli earned the assist. Dooher scored her second goal of the game at 73:56 on a header to mark her fourth goal of the season. Senior defender Marissa Santana was credited with her first assist of the season to give the Mavericks the 4-1 win.

 

Minnesota State had seven shots on goal as Dooher and fellow junior Brianne West each launched two shots on the Husky keeper.

 

Minnesota State (4-1-1, 2-0-0 NSIC) returns to action as it hosts Northern State (4-3-0, 1-1-0 NSIC) Saturday as 1 p.m., in Mankato, Minn.