OMAHA, Neb. – A win Saturday over Northwestern College gave the College of Saint Mary soccer team its first ever 4-0 start in Great Plains Athletic Conference play.

The Flames defeated Northwestern 5-2 at home. With the win, CSM is now 4-0-0 in the GPAC and 5-3-2 overall. The Red Raiders drop to 2-2-0, 2-7-1.

"We are really happy with the effort we had today," CSM Coach Jamison Parkhill said. "We were able to execute the game plan and get the result we wanted to move to 4-0. Picking up 12 points in our first four matches is huge."

Camila Muñoz got the Flames on the scoreboard first at 14:08 with an assist from Kylie Anderson.

Northwestern answered at 22:58 when Kylie Baccam netted an unassisted shot.

CSM showed strong teamwork on a goal at 27:53 when Abbie Anderson scored assisted by Marissa Ring and Libbie Brezenski.

 The Flames went into the intermission with a 2-1 advantage.

Neither team scored early in the second half until Brezenski was subbed in and scored right away at 61:31 with an assist credited to Ring.

With the Flames ahead 3-1 both teams traded penalty shot goals. Avril Baccam netted hers for Northwestern at 65:59 and then Brezenski scored at 67:51 to push the score to 4-2.

"Libbie was huge today with two goals and an assist," Parkhill said. "I'm really happy with her play. She's someone we look to come in with that spark off the bench. For her to earn the penalty kick and then step up and put it away was huge."

CSM scored one final goal at 81:06 as Bella Olsen got a breakaway pass from teammate Taylor Kruse and shot it past the netminder.

The Red Raiders outshot College of Saint Mary 15-14 in the contest. CSM keeper Alivia Schade had four saves in net, while Northwestern's Peyton Anderson tallied six saves.

CSM returns to action at 1 p.m. Oct. 5 at Morningside University.

"We're off for a week," Parkhill said. "We're going to take a rest day and turn our focus to these next three matches. We're going to fine tune some things that will make us that much better."