By: Will Harper, staff writer

Hayley Younginer has scored or assisted on twenty goals over thirteen soccer games. She has scored eighteen times, including two hat tricks. Younginer has two more years of playing eligibility left, and five games left in the season to add to this score amount. Although her year started by not scoring in her first two games, she went on to score a goal in her next eight games. These included two consecutive hat tricks against Alabama A&M and University of North Carolina Greensborough. She currently leads the nation in scoring as a Division 1 player by five goals.

When asked about her scoring clip, Younginer answered, “Part of it is being in the right place at the right time. My teammates are attacking in shape. We play a 4-5-1, so we have a lot of people going up, and we’re finding each other and playing off each other really well, and I couldn’t do it without my teammates.”

Younginer predicts that other teams will start targeting her because of all of her goals. “The further we get into conference, they’re going to be man-marking a lot. For the whole team, we’ll have to be ready for it. I think the hurdle is going to be getting over that, and learning how to play in any situation against a bunch of different teams.”

The women’s soccer team is sitting at 5-7-1. Younginer is aware that these scores make for a less than desirable season. “Last year was a pretty bad season, we had a lot of injuries. Mentally, we just need to get out of that pattern of being accustomed to a loss, and we need to work to win. And we can win, we have incredible talent all around the field. I think we just need to recognize that, and well be good.”

With only five games left, the ladies’ team sits in sixth place, at 1-3-1 in conference. Outside of Younginer, Katie Beuerlein is another player who has scored meaningful goals, with four and four assists, as well as Hannah Washko with five assists. Emma Fletcher also has a goal and four assists.