On senior day at John F. Wiley Stadium, the Waynesburg University women’s soccer team celebrated the occasion with a 4-0 win over Thiel College.

The day took on some added meaning for head coach Laura Heethuis. For Heethuis, who took over the program in 2014, this was the first senior class that she has coached for all four years.

“Like I told the girls before the game, [senior day is] a little more emotional for us,” Heethuis said. “This is the first class that I’ve had for four years. So even though they weren’t recruited by me, I’ve been with them for the full four years all through their college careers. So I’m very proud of them for everything they’ve done, all the ups and downs that we’ve gone through as a program, as a team…”

The Yellow Jackets drew first blood less than 14 minutes in. Defender Sam Nichols, one of the six seniors recognized, scored on a corner from sophomore midfielder Teagan Jenner to make it 1-0. Although Waynesburg outshot Thiel 7-0 in the first 45 minutes, that was the only offense it managed before the half.

It took a little over ten minutes for Waynesburg to add insurance in the second half. Jenner picked up her second assist of the day on freshman forward Emily Hill’s second goal of the season, making it 2-0. Less than 10 minutes later, another freshman, forward Amelia Beland, scored for the first time in her college career on a shot from 30-yards out.

Coming into her senior day, Courtney Zofcin had never scored a goal in 22 career appearances. That changed a little after the 79-minute mark, when the defender finished a cross from fellow senior, forward Nikki Davis, for her first collegiate goal. For Heethuis, seeing Zofcin’s hard work get rewarded was memorable.

“It was awesome,” Heethuis said. “Courtney comes in day in and day out, and she doesn’t always get a lot of minutes if any. So today, she came in and made a difference.  It was cool to see, and [Davis] set her up really well, and she finished. It was very cool to see, kind of gives you the chills to see somebody put in so much work and then finally get rewarded with something like this. Hats off to a great finish for her.”

Sophomore Courtney Syfert relieved senior Heather Fraser in goal with a little less than five minutes left and kept the clean sheet. Fraser, who had started four games this season, but hadn’t appeared in a match since Sept. 29, got the start on her senior day. Neither goalkeeper had to save any shots. The Yellow Jackets outshot the Tomcats 22-4 in total, and 16-0 in shots on net. Fraser credited her defense for the shutout.

“The defense always does a great job,” Fraser said. “They’re always right on top of everything, and if the ball gets through to me, it’s not a difficult ball to save.”

For Heethuis, a significant difference in the two halves was spacing.

“The first half I feel like we were a little bit predictable with our play,” Heethuis said. “We got the ball in the wide areas, but we didn’t commit a defender to kind of make a difference between our players and their back line. [At halftime] we talked about committing defenders, opening up space in the wide channels, and playing quicker in the [midfield], and I think we did that and that opened up the game for us a little bit.”

With the win, Waynesburg improved to 6-6-1 overall and 2-3 in Presidents’ Athletic Conference play, while Thiel fell to 3-10 overall and 0-4 in the PAC.

Waynesburg’s next contest will be Tuesday, Oct. 17, at Chatham (8-5, 2-3) at 8 p.m. The seniors still have two more chances to play at home – against Grove City and Geneva. Heethuis felt that Saturday’s performance was fitting for the work her seniors have put in.

“[The seniors] have great leadership abilities, and I think that really showed today,” Heethuis said. “[They are] a group of girls that love this team and love the game and love working hard to win, so it’s great to get them a win on senior day like this.”