Chattanooga 2, Jacksonville State 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The Lady Mocs improved to 3-4 on the season and won its second consecutive game with a 2-1 decision over Jacksonville State Tuesday night at the North River Soccer Complex.
With just six seconds remaining in the first half, freshman Bjork Gunnarsdottir eluded a defender, sidestepped diving Gamecock keeper Amanda Stephens to the left of the goal and sent a shot into the lower right corner to put UTC up 1-0.
The Lady Mocs built their lead to 2-0 at the 52:04 mark. Junior Maya Peel sent a shot to toward the goal, but it was too high and ricocheted off the cross bar back to teammate Nikki Brannen. The freshman caught the deflection and found the back of the net past new JSU goalie Elizabeth Selasky for the eventual game winner.
The Gamecocks got back into the game on a Chattanooga error. The defense pushed the ball back to UTC keeper Stacey Matthiessen who mishandled the pass allowing Jacksonville State’s Courtney Moore an easy score at the 54:42 mark to put JSU within one at 2-1.
The Lady Mocs managed to keep the ball away from the Gamecocks throughout the game with a 19-4 advantage on shots, but JSU’s defense kept Chattanooga from getting many good looks at the goal.
“Our game is progressing,” UTC Head Coach J.D. Kyzer said. “We are coming together with each game a little better and look to be ready in time to play against the (Southern) conference.”
Jacksonville falls to 1-4-1 on the year and will play host to Mercer Friday evening at the JSU Soccer Field.
Western Carolina 2, UNC Asheville 0
Asheville, N.C. - Western Carolina scored two quick goals midway through the second half as the Catamounts downed homestanding UNC Asheville, 2-0, at Greenwood Field Tuesday afternoon. With the victory, the Catamounts improve to 5-1-0 to establish the program's best start in this its seventh year of competition, bettering the 4-1-1 record at the beginning of the 2000 campaign.
In addition, Western handed the Bulldogs (3-1-0) their first loss of the season and recorded the first goal allowed on the year by the Bulldogs, ending a run of nearly 334 minutes of scoreless play. Also, Western Carolina held UNCA senior forward Hilary McKay to just one shot on goal. McKay entered the contest as the NCAA leader in both scoring (4.3 points per match) and goals scored (2.0 per match).
The game was evenly played for the most part as each team finished with nine shots each, while the Cats held a 7-1 edge in corner kicks.
UNCA was called for a foul in the 64th minute that gave the Catamounts an indirect kick five yards away from the goal. Lauren Atkinson fed Heather Dittmer, who connected from seven yards out to give Western a 1-0 lead at 64:26.
The Bulldogs tried to counter quickly but got caught by WCU. Keevy Harris, who recorded her team-leading fourth assist on the season, sent a pass to Atkinson who scored from 10 yards out to push the Catamount lead to 2-0 at the 65:52 mark. Atkinson tallied her first goal and assist on the season in the win, playing in the absence of WCU's top scorer Natalie Turgeon, who left the match in the first half with an injury.
"It's a tough loss," said UNC Asheville coach Michele Cornish. "We just couldn't score today, and they got those two quick goals to win the game. We battled hard but just didn't play well enough to get a victory against a well-coached Western Carolina club."
Asheville's best chance to score came in the 20th minute of the first half when sophomore Joy Haynes got loose, but her 15-yard shot was stopped by WCU goalkeeper Alesha Row. Row stopped four Bulldog shots to earn her second straight shutout, third of the year and her seventh for her career, moving her to just 1.5 shutouts away from second place on the WCU all-time list.
Freshman forward Robyn Busha for Asheville had two header chances early in the second half but both shots were wide of the mark.