The Neepawa Storm women’s soccer club pulled off a big win last Thursday, topping the Westside Strikers to leapfrog both them and the Brandon Cyclones in the standings. The Strikers, a Virden/Hamiota team, hosted the game in Hamiota. The first half went scoreless with back-and-forth play, but Neepawa came out firing in the second half, giving a strong team effort from back to front. Jen Byram knocked in the first goal of the game to give Neepawa the lead. Shortly after, a Strikers goal kick was intercepted by Brittany Marshall who quickly controlled it and rifled it back at the net to score and clinch a 2-0 win. A strong defensive effort, coupled with a great effort from keeper Yvonne Doble, led to the team’s shutout. “It was a great game all-around,” coach Kaiten Critchlow said. “The ladies have been used to playing twice weekly, but hadn’t been on the field for over a week; it looked like the extra recovery time helped us out, and the ladies came out firing as soon as the first whistle blew.” Earlier in the week, last Tuesday, Neepawa was scheduled to host the Prairie Mountain Fury squad from Dauphin at The Flats. Dauphin, who has only been able to compete in two games this year, cancelled the matchup due to a lack of players. No makeup date as been rescheduled as of yet. The win Thursday night was still enough to jump the Storm from ninth place in the 12-team Westman Women’s Soccer League to a tie for sixth place, according to standings as of last Friday. The team is sitting at .500 with a 4-win, 4-loss record eight games in. Neepawa also has two to four games in hand on all five teams ahead of them in the standings.