Western Carolina 3, Appalachian State 2
BOONE, N.C. ? Western Carolina women’s soccer scored three unanswered goals in the second half, including the gamewinner with 13 seconds left to defeat the Appalachian State University women’s soccer team, 3-2, in Southern Conference action at the ASU Soccer Stadium.
WCU’s three goals was the most an opponent had scored on the Mountaineers this season as the Apps fall to 7-6 overall and 3-2 in the SoCon. WCU improves to 6-5-2 overall and 2-1-1 in the league.
Appalachian scored first on Paige Morrow’s (Chapel Hill, N.C.) goal in the 21st minute. Morrow headed Dana Murphy’s (Greensboro, N.C.) cross into the near netting from the opposite side of the goal. Caroline Lowe (Raleigh, N.C.) gave the Apps a 2-0 cushion in the 33rd minute on a floating header that managed to find the goal. Casey Cleary (Wellington, Fla.) assisted on the score.
ASU maintained the lead through halftime, but the Catamounts quickly cut into the margin with a tally in the 52nd minute. Shannon Fowkes collected Shanna Schmoker’s pass from the far wing, and was able to maneuver past the keeper in the box to make the score 2-1. Six minutes later the Catamounts scored the equalizer from Heather Dittmer on a long pass from Jenny Matteson that she knocked in from the center of the box. Shortly after the second Catamount goal, the match was suspended for 30 minutes due to lightning in the area.
When play resumed, the match appeared destined for overtime. However, the Catamounts wouldn’t allow it, scoring a goal with just 13 seconds remaining. The Catamounts attacked twice in the final minute and got the gamewinner from Fowkes on a loose ball in a mad scramble in the goalmouth. Fowkes’ goal, her second of the afternoon, held up for 13 seconds to preserve the Catamount victory.
WCU outshot Appalachian by a 15-11 margin and had eight shots on goal to ASU’s four. The Catamounts outshot ASU 10-5 in the second half of play. Fowkes led all players with four shots, while Morrow and Jennifer MacNeill (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) had three each for ASU.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Monday, October 9 at Furman for a 5 p.m. SoCon match.
Georgia Southern 2, College of Charleston 1
STATESBORO, Ga. --- Junior Jenni Boykin (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore Ashley Toussaint (Warner Robins, Ga.) teamed up for both Georgia Southern goals, the last coming in the second overtime to lift the Eagles to a 2-1 victory over College of Charleston Thursday afternoon at Eagle Field.
The win gives Georgia Southern a 5-6-1 record overall and 3-1 in the Southern Conference, and snaps a four-match losing streak to the Cougars. The 3-1 league start is the best for the program after four matches since 2001 (3-0-1). Charleston falls to 4-5-2 and 2-1.
”I’m extremely proud of our team,” said GSU head coach Ashley Hart. “We came out a little slow in the first half, but we got reorganized. I’m proud of the fact that we fought back and scored two goals. Jenni and Ashley combined really well both times.”
The first period was dominated by CofC as the Cougars controlled possession and kept the ball in the GSUs defensive half, but was unable to convert that into a quality scoring chance. Charleston held a 7-3 shot advantage, but only two were on goal.
The lone Cougar goal came at the 24:27 mark when sophomore Danielle Jordan (Charleston, S.C.) curved her corner kick straight into the net. The left-footed in-swinger curled just inside the left post.
Georgia Southern took little time in evening the score after halftime. Boykin headed in a cross from Toussaint 4:36 after the break for her first goal of the season.
The match settled down after that and neither team managed a serious threat for the remainder of regulation and the first overtime.
Boykin’s match-winner came 1:34 after the start of the second overtime period. A crossing pass from Toussaint found Boykin all alone in front of the net. Boykins two goals on the day matches her career total coming to today’s contest.
The Cougars outshot Georgia Southern 20-7 for the contest. Junior Kelly McGinty (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) and sophomore Katie Browne (Winston-Salem, N.C.) each had four shots for the visitors. Sophomore Susanne Rogers (Augusta, Ga.) and Boykin had three shots each for GSU.
Freshman Lauren Santos (Berwyn, Ill.) made six saves in net for the Eagles while her counterpart, freshman Sarah Wiggers (Cincinnati, Ohio) had three stops for Charleston.
Next up for Georgia Southern is a home match Sunday vs. UNC Greensboro, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. College of Charleston will also be in action Sunday, traveling to Wofford for a 2 p.m. match.
Furman 2, Davidson 1
DAVIDSON, N.C.? Despite outshooting Furman 12-7 and finishing with 13 corner kicks, the Davidson women's soccer team could not capitalize on its opportunities, falling 2-1 to the visiting Paladins in Southern Conference play on Thursday night, Oct. 5, at Alumni Stadium. Davidson dropped its first home contest of the season as the Wildcats record fell to 6-5-1 overall and 2-2 in SoCon action. Furman remained perfect in SoCon play at
3-0-1 and improved to 5-6-1 overall.
Davidson struck first for the second game in a row in the seventh minute of the contest when sophomore Tiffany Mumby (Houston, Texas) hit a low-liner blast from 18-yards out to the left corner of the goal past a diving Briana da Mota of Furman to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. It was Mumby's second goal of the year.
Furman countered Davidson's goal with one of its own at the 28:21 mark. Sara El-Shami sent a blast from 20-yards out in the middle of the field that junior goalie Bevin English (Charleston, S.C.) first stopped by punching it straight up with her right hand. But, English was too far under the goal as the ball hit the cross bar and bounced in over the goal line, knotting things up 1-1 going into halftime.
The Paladins almost scored a second goal in the first half when Anna Betton sent a cross right into the goalie box where Rachel Fry had a open net on the left side, but hit it instead right at English who hung tight to the ball after the close blast to preserve the tie.
Close to 10 minutes into the second half, Betton would give Furman a 2-1 advantage on a chip shot from 10-yards out that was perfectly place over the head of English for her fourth goal of the season.
After that goal, Davidson controlled the majority of the game the rest of way, pressuring the Paladins' defense for almost 30 minutes. The Wildcats had 10 corner kicks in the second stanza, including six straight at one time, but just never could punch one in as Furman held strong each time.
Then in the 70th minute, Stacy Simpson was given her second yellow card of the game and then a red card was addressed, forcing Furman to play one player down for almost 10 minutes. But the Wildcats were not able to take advantage of its opportunities and Furman was able to hang tough despite losing Simpson late, earning the hard-fought 2-1 win.
English came up with five stops in goal for the Wildcats, while Mota settled in after giving up the early goal and earned four saves, all in the second half, between the posts for the Paladins.
Davidson will now finish its non-conference part of its schedule with a trip to Winthrop on Sunday, Oct. 8 for a matchup against the Eagles at 2 p.m.