BROOKINGS – The Bobcats weathered an early Mitchell offensive onslaught before countering with two unanswered goals in a 2-0 Eastern South Dakota Conference victory on Tuesday night at Fishback Soccer Park.

With 5 minutes and 36 seconds off the clock, Brooke Bullington scored off an assist from Alexis Schelske to open the scoring.

Brookings added its second goal in the 21st minute when Rachel Burke outdueled Kernel keeper Caroline Titze for a loose ball in the box as Micah Reed picked up the assist.

Grace Mork collected six saves for the shutout win in goal as the Bobcats outshot Mitchell, 19-15, including an 8-6 edge in shots on goal, to improve to 2-4-1 overall and 2-2-1 in the ESD.

The ‘Cats travel to Sioux Falls on Thursday to face Washington in a 6 p.m. contest at Yankton Trail.

“It was nice to watch what we’ve been working on come together, especially finishing in the box,” said Bobcat head coach Kelli Herman. “We’re getting some good scrambles and we’ve talked about penalizing those teams, capitalizing on their mistakes and burying a ball.

“We probably play the top four teams in the state in the back half of our season, so we’ve been talking a lot about our mentality on the field, believing in each other and believing in what we’re doing. I think now that we are confident that we can handle the ball in the formation that we’re in, we’re going to be a team that is dangerous (to play).”

Register photo: Micah Reed splits a pair of Mitchell defenders as teammate Rachel Burke eyes the play during the first half of the Bobcats’ 2-0 Eastern South Dakota Conference win on Tuesday at Fishback Soccer Park.