UPLAND, Ind. -- Indiana Wesleyan University women’s soccer withstood all Taylor (Ind.) had to offer tonight and left Upland with a 2-1 victory in the battle of Grant County rivals.

“It was a great win for us tonight,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Dr. John Bratcher. “The team played really well tonight and got a good result.”

Indiana Wesleyan made the most of their chances as the Wildcats were only able to take three shots on Tuesday. Two of them were on goal and both finished as scores.

Katie Pannabecker struck first with a goal in the 20th minute off an assist from Paige LaBonne. The two would connect again in the 33rd minute and this time it was LaBonne with the score as Indiana Wesleyan headed into halftime up 2-0.

“They were really all over us in the first 11 minutes and then all of a sudden we turned it around and changed momentum,” said Bratcher. “We had some good combinations on our goals with good speed, good hustle, and the desire was there and we pretty much dominated the rest of the half.”

The second half belonged to Taylor as the Trojans outshot the Wildcats 8-0 in the period. Molly Drooger finally put the Trojans on the board with a goal in the 58th minute. But the Wildcats were able to withstand the rest of the TU attack and escaped Upland with the 2-1 victory.

“We came out in the second half and it didn’t take long for them to be all over us,” continued Bratcher. “We weathered it for a long time and kept it to just corner kicks but they finally scored on one. We only had a couple times that we even got the ball down on their end.”

Bratcher credited the victory to a strong effort by the entire team. Defensively Indiana Wesleyan bent but did not break as Taylor outshot Indiana Wesleyan 13-3 and took 14 corner kicks while IWU did not take one.

“Rachel Fulkerson had a great night in net and made a couple of nice saves and Jordan Harris did a wonderful job of taking care of Molly Drooger who at one time was the nation’s leading scorer,” added Bratcher. “Erica Schmeltz, at defensive center mid, stepped up and played real well and so did Tracey Tiernon. She is getting better and she played some forward and defensive center mid.”

Indiana Wesleyan moves to 6-6-1 on the season and 3-3-0 in Crossroads League play. Taylor drops to 8-6-0 overall and 1-5-0 in league action.

IWU returns home for their next contest which is at 7 p.m. on Friday at Wildcat Field. Indiana Wesleyan hosts Bethel (Ind.) in Crossroads League play.