PELLA, Iowa – The Augustana Vikings women's soccer team made it a successful start to their 2022 season, picking up a road win over the Central Dutch on Thursday by a score of 2-1.
  
Less than two minutes into the game, Kayla Garcia put the Vikings on the board, sending one high and left into the net for the early 1-0. The one-goal advantage carried all the way until halftime, with Augie fending off eight shot attempts from the Dutch, half of which were on target. Janey Castoe had half of her eight saves in the opening 45 minutes of action.
 
For nearly the first half hour of the second half, the score remained the same. The Vikings continued to defend an onslaught of shot attempts from the Dutch, seeing nine in the second half alone. Despite the shot differential, Augie took advantage of 74^th-minute penalty kick sent in by Molly Fank to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead. The Dutch finally saw one of their many shots hit the back of the goal in the 86^th minute, but Augustana held on to escape with the one-goal road victory.
 
As a team, the Vikings saw just six shots total, with their only two on target resulting in scores. Five different Augie players tallied a shot, with Garcia the team leader with two.
 
With the win, the Vikings kick off their 2022 campaign with a 1-0 record. The team will be back in action on Saturday, September 3 when they visit the Greenville Panthers. Start time is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. from Greenville, Ill.