There was no way Kendall Hemperley was letting the Northwestern State soccer team lose its annual ‘Fork Cancer’ game.
The highly-motivated freshman from Katy, Texas, created the first goal on a cross that resulted in an own goal, helping lead the Demons (8-3-3, 3-1-1) to a 2-0 home Southland Conference soccer victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-7-4, 1-3-2) on Thursday evening at the Demon Soccer Complex.
Northwestern goes on the road for a key contest Sunday, visiting East Texas A&M in a battle for first place in the Southland standings as the back half of conference play begins.
Thursday night, Hemperley sported ‘Mom’ written on her leg in support of her mother, DeAnne, who battled breast cancer while Kendall was in high school.
It was also DeAnne’s birthday.
“It felt amazing to help get that goal,” Hemperley said. “As soon as that goal went in, I looked straight at my mom. It was awesome.
“She couldn’t ask for a better birthday gift. All she asked for was a goal and I gave it to her.”
On the goal, Hemperley sent in a cross into the box and AMCC’s Dakota Merino stuck her leg out to try to knock away the cross, but it hit her leg and deflected into the back of the net to give the Demons the lead.
While Hemperley helped Northwestern grab the lead, it was Riley Stern who put the exclamation point on the Demons’ second straight victory midway through the second half.
Stern, a redshirt junior from Fort Worth, scored on a free kick to put NSU up 2-0 in the 62nd minute.
Madison Murphy booted a free kick into the box, and it was deflected by AMCC’s Ashley Wilson, who tried to head it away. But instead, she headed it right down to Stern, who did the rest.
“I got in on so many free kicks tonight,” Stern said. “I was hungry to put one into the back of the net. It just dropped right in front of me, and I just knew I had to put it away and that is what I did.”
From there, the Demons defense shut the door, as NSU only surrendered one shot attempt over the final 28 minutes after Stern’s goal.
“It feels good to get a big three points for us against tough opposition,” head coach Ian Brophy said. “I am really happy with the way we controlled possession, and I really thought we controlled the game throughout.”
Overall, NSU out-shot AMCC 11-7, including 5-2 in the second half. During league play, the Demons have recorded more shot attempts than their opponents in four of the five games, with them tying in the other game in shot attempts.
Kennedy Rist posted her fifth shutout, aided by a tremendous defense that only helped allow one shot on goal.
“We defended in transition really well tonight,” Brophy said. “The way we were able to snuff out their attacks and recycled possession was a real positive. We were really good on the defensive side, and we were able to match their speed and physicality.”
VOLLEYBALL: The young Northwestern squad lost 3-0 (25-12, 25-12 and 15) Thursday night on the road to the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions in Southland Conference action.
The Demons (1-18, 0-5 SLC) were led by Deja Benjamin with nine kills while Reagan Hamm had 13 assists. Emmarie McFarland led the way defensively with 11 digs.
The Lady Lions (12-5, 4-1 SLC) moved to 7-0 at home in the University Center this season.
NSU will travel 50 miles south to New Orleans to face the UNO Privateers (6-11, 1-3 SLC) Saturday afternoon at 1.
