Junior forward Lexi White found the back of the net for the first time at the collegiate level on Sunday afternoon, heading on a corner kick from junior midfielder Emme Butera that found White at the far post, where she slotted the ball past the goal line for the first goal of her career.
“Yeah, I saw Emme, she played a beautiful ball in, and then my mark was kind of far away from me, so I was like, okay, I’m just going to go up and try it,” White said.
The goal was the equalizer that helped the Falcons to a 1-1 draw against the MAC favorite Western Michigan Broncos (5-2-1), a team that hasn’t lost a regular-season conference game since Oct. 23, 2022. Just as the streak lives on for WMU, this day will live on in the memory of White, who saw minutes in only her third game in 2025.
“You warm up on the sideline, you have to be ready to go,” White said. “You have to be ready to make an impact on the field. Your teammates are counting on you, and you’re counting on your teammates.”
Head coach Chris Fox has embraced the depth of his roster, giving 25 of his 29 players minutes in three games or more this season, and White, who had seen only 23 minutes so far this season, was trusted by the second-year coach in what was one of the most crucial points in the season.
“Really happy for Lexi White, obviously she’s someone who’s been working really, really hard and playing limited minutes this season to come off the bench against a top team,” Fox said. “I think she not only made her presence known with the goal, but throughout the game as well with how hard she worked, how much she battled, so I’m really happy for her.”
White earned her first career point in her freshman season in 2023, when she assisted her former high school teammate Audrey Oliver to her first career goal on a brisk October night at Cochrane Stadium in a 5-1 win over Central Michigan.
Now, nearly two years later, she gets another taste of the scoresheet, but this time with an extra point attached.
“It feels great,” White said when asked about how it feels to score her first career goal. “I feel like this time has put so much work into this season, and helping them to put a goal in the net today just made me feel really good.”
White, who attended Olentangy High School in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated in the same class as Oliver, was a team captain of a Braves team that held a 60-14-10 record through her four-year tenure. For her efforts, White was awarded to the All-Ohio Second Team and the All-OCC First Team in 2021.
The Lewis Center native played her club ball for Ohio Premier ECNL, where she scored 26 goals in 2020 and 2021.
