It took senior midfielder Alaina Atcher five years to score her first career goal, and from what coach Jason Neidell said about her celebration, it might be another five years till she gets another.

“She is definitely going to need to work on her goal celebration. She was just jumping up and down and yelling,” Neidell said.

Atcher’s goal put the Lady Toppers on the board on Sunday to help give Western a 2-0 victory against Belmont and grab the Mafiaoza’s/Belmont Invitational title.

Western improved to 5-0-1 by posting two shutouts over the weekend. First came a 4-0 win against Murray State on Friday, followed by the win against Belmont on Saturday.

Atcher’s goal was the first of the game on Sunday, and freshman forward Kaylyn Pratt added an insurance goal in the second half.

Atcher said she definitely enjoyed her first career goal.

“It was kind of bittersweet since I hadn’t scored one in five years with the team,” Atcher said.

Senior defender Morgan Thomas said the goal by Atcher was one of the best moments of the year.

“It was so exciting. She never gets the credit in the box score, but she is the heart of the team,” Thomas said.

“She was jumping up and down and yelling, but I think we were yelling louder than her,” she added.

Four different players scored for the Lady Toppers in their victory on Friday against Murray State. Western opened the game strong, with sophomore forward Amanda Buechel and junior Megan Meinke scoring goals in the first nine minutes of the game.

Junior midfielder Kellie Walker and freshman forward Lindsey Goad added goals in the second half to pad to their lead.

Neidell called the two victories a team effort.

“It was 11 players working together to defend,” he said. “Our communication and organization has been really good.”

Freshman goalkeeper Libby Stout collected 10 saves over the weekend to grab her second and third straight shutouts of the year.

“Every game she is becoming more comfortable with her environment,” Neidell said.

Along with Stout’s improvement, the team is getting better on other areas of the field too.

“Every game we improve in one aspect and try to hold that for the next game,” Thomas said.

The Lady Toppers play at 6 p.m. Friday against Eastern Illinois at WKU soccer complex.

“We have to keep putting in a strong week of practice,” added Atcher.

Neidell agrees that his team is improving, but says that the success can fizzle at any time.

“We are a talented team but talent alone isn’t going to get us where we want to go,” he said.

Reach Mike Stunson at sports@chherald.com.