Georgia Southern 1, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. Heather Smith scored a first-half goal and goalie Lauren Santos made eight saves in helping lead the number seven seeded Georgia Southern Eagles to an 1-0 win over the number two seeded Davidson Wildcats in the first-round of the 2006 Southern Conference Women's Soccer Tournament at Alumni Stadium on Tuesday evening. GSU improved to 8-10-1 and will move onto the semifinals to be played on Friday on the campus of Western Carolina. Davidson concluded its season at 11-7-2 and saw its four-game winning streak come to an end. The Wildcats fell to 12-8-2 all-time in the tournament.
Davidson opened play with three shots, two of them on goal in the first 25 minutes of play, but Georgia Southern held their ground. After the Eagles worked the ball down to the middle of the field on Davidson's side, a foul was called on the ?Cats setting up a free kick for GSU in the 37th minute.
Mallory Springfield, Heather Smith and another Eagle player all set up around the ball to take the kick when Springfield ran at the ball, tapping it over to Smith who blasted a 20-yard shot that just went over the head and outstretched arms of freshman goalie Loring Ward (Charleston, S.C.), while clipping the top bar and finding the back of the net for the first and only goal of the game.
The scored stayed that way despite the Wildcats coming out in a full-force attack after halftime. Davidson maintained possess of the ball and field advantage the majority of the second half, getting off 15 shots to zero for GSU. Unfortunately, the Wildcats just couldn't find the back of the net in time to stop the Eagles from upsetting them.
It's not like the Wildcats didn't get any good looks on their 15 shots. Six of those 15 shots were on goal in the second half and eight of their 18 total shots in the game were on goal.
Davidson had three great chances to tie things up and even take the lead throughout the second half, but the Eagles' Santos seemed to know where every Wildcat shot would end up. In the 64th minute, Davidson got two shots off headers from junior Kristen Koehrn (La Mea, Calif.) and freshman Katharine Laco (Bethesda, Md.) off a corner kick, but Santos was right there to knock the first one down and then grab Laco's shot. Then in the 77th minute, Koehrn let one rip from about 16-yards out in the middle of the box, but again, Santos was in prefect position to spear it out of the air.
Finally with 23 seconds remaining on the clock, freshman Suzanne Sittko tried to pick up her fifth game-winner when she broke free and went one-on-one with the goalie, but her shot went just wide, ending the Wildcats
season.
Ward suffered her first defeat in goal as she registered one save. Davidson won in the shot column, 18-3, and finished the year with a record of 10-3-2 when outshooting opponents.
The contest marked the final games for the Wildcats' six seniors, Cameron Hardesty (Plano, Texas), Jessica Lahre (San Diego, Calif.), Anne Stevens (Bexley, Ohio), Amanda Traver (Duanesburg, N.Y.), Heidi Wilbrandt (Woodstock, Ill.) and Maggie Womack (New Bern, N.C.) as they all played their final home game as well.
Georgia Southern moves onto the semifinals where it will battle Furman, who defeated Appalachian State 4-0 tonight, on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Western Carolina 3, College of Charleston 2
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. ? Two second-half goals were not enough, as the College of Charleston women’s soccer team dropped its first round SoCon Women’s Soccer Tournament match to Western Carolina, 3-2, on Tuesday evening at Patriots Point.
The Cougars finished the season with a record of 8-9-2 overall and 6-4-0 in the SoCon. The victory improved Western Carolina’s record to 10-7-3 overall and 5-3-2 in the SoCon.
Western Carolina notched its first two goals of the match in the 28th and 38th minutes of the match through own goals by CofC.
CofC attempted one shot and no corner kicks in the first half, while Western Carolina took seven shots and four corner kicks in the half.
Meghan Reilly scored the third goal in the match for the Lady Catamounts in the 74th minute to give Western Carolina the lead, 3-0. Reilly deflected a crossing pass from teammate Nikki Lombardo past the goalkeeper for the score.
The Cougars mounted a late comeback, which was started by a goal from sophomore Danielle Jordan in the 79th minute to make the score, 3-1. Jordan gathered a crossing pass from senior Teryn Schuetz within the penalty box and drove home the score with a strong shot past the goalkeeper.
Freshman Julie Romanik scored her second goal of the season in the 81st minute to make the score, 3-2, in favor of Western Carolina. Romanik redirected a corner kick attempt by Jordan for the score.
Overall, CofC took 10 shots and four corner kicks in the match, while Western Carolina attempted 11 shots and five corner kicks.
Sophomore Erin Smith had five saves in the match for CofC, while Alesha Row had six saves for Western Carolina.
Western Carolina now advances to the semifinals of the 2006 SoCon Women’s Soccer Championship on Nov. 3 in Cullowhee, N.C. The Lady Catamounts will face UNC Greensboro, who defeated Elon, 4-0 in its first round match.
The other semifinal match on Nov. 3 will pit Georgia Southern against Furman. Georgia Southern defeated Davidson, 1-0, in its first round match. Furman defeated Appalachian State, 4-0, in the first round.
The SoCon Women’s Soccer Championship match will take place on Nov. 5.
Furman 4, Appalachian State 0
Greenville, S.C. -- Junior Rachel Fry tallied a goal and three assists as Furman raced past Appalachian State 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Women’s Soccer Championships Tuesday evening at Stone Soccer Stadium.
Furman controlled possession and dominated the attack for most of the 90 minutes, but the Lady Paladins did not find the back of the net until the
39:16 mark. Fry fed Sara El-Shami who touched a pass into the path of Margaret Antonik. The freshman fired a sliding one-timer past Appalachian keeper Emma White into the righthand side for her first career goal.
Fry triggered the Furman attack again in the 58th minute. The Gambrills, Md., native slotted a through ball to Anna Betton who was tripped in the box and awarded a penalty kick. El-Shami converted the chance from the spot at 57:08 to double the Lady Paladin lead.
Fry notched a goal of her own and upped Furman’s lead to 3-0 at 81:36.
Lucy Martin centered a pass to El-Shami who delivered a through ball back to Martin on the right side of the box. Martin fed Fry who blasted a shot into the top netting for her seventh goal of the season.
Furman capped the scoring in the 88th minute as Fry sent a diagonal ball ahead of Betton and behind the defense. The Greensboro, N.C., product converted the one versus one with White to give Furman the 4-0 final margin.
The Lady Paladins outshot Appalachian State 24-8 and held a 3-1 edge in corner kicks. Briana da Mota stopped three shots to record the clean sheet while White saved seven shots in a losing effort.
With the win, Furman improved to 10-9-1 and advances to the SoCon semifinals to face seventh-seeded Georgia Southern at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Cullowhee, N.C.
UNCG 4, Elon 0
Greensboro, N.C. ? Four separate Spartans score in top-seeded UNC Greensboro’s 4-0 victory over eighth-seeded Elon in the opening round of the Southern Conference Tournament. UNCG, which holds the best winning percentage in SoCon women’s soccer postseason history, advances to its ninth semifinal game.
The Spartans started the scoring early at the 3:57 minute mark. Senior Carolyn Lindsay scored her second goal of the year after Phoenix goalkeeper Lizz Johnson was drawn out of her post. Lindsay was there to put the goal into the open net.
Senior Shannon Donovan, who was named SoCon Player of the Year, put UNCG up 2-0 off a pass from freshman Jennifer Bronson in the 22nd minute. Bronson, SoCon Co-Freshman of the Year, took the corner kick for UNCG and passed it to Donovan who grounded the ball through a crowd in front of the net right past Johnson’s fingers. Then, Heather Mitrisin gave UNCG its final goal of the half just 11 minutes later. Karla Davis sent a corner kick to the head of Jessica Patterson right in the box. Patterson headed it back to the feet of Mitrisin who put it in for the goal.
Bronson finished the scoring for the Spartans in the 84th minute of the match. Emilie Stewart stole a pass from an Elon defender and crossed to Jessie Jay in the 18-yard box. Jay corralled the ball and sent it to Bronson to her right. Bronson fired a shot to the top left corner of the net to give UNCG the four goal advantage.
UNCG dominated the game, keeping possession on Elon’s end of the pitch. The Spartans outshot the Phoenix 21-8 and held an 11-3 corner kick advantage.
Spartan keeper Katherine Ryan tallied five saves and recorded her seventh shutout of the season which puts her tied for fifth on the team’s single season shutout list.
The Spartans improve to 11-7-2 overall and the Phoenix finish the season with an overall record of 6-11-2. UNCG will play No. 5 Western Carolina in Friday’s semifinal match in Cullowhee, NC at 7 pm. The other semifinal game will feature seventh-seeded Georgia Southern versus third-seeded Furman starting at 4:30 pm.