Women's Soccer Southern Conference

Chattanooga Tops Tennessee Tech 3-0 in Women's Soccer Action

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Senior Melyna Valdez tallied a pair of first half goals to lead the Lady Mocs to their first shut out win of the year, defeating Tennessee Tech 3-0 at the North River Soccer Complex Wednesday evening.

Valdez’ first goal came in the fifth minute of play off a corner kick from freshman Marlee Jenkins. The El Paso, Texas midfielder took the corner and skipped the ball past the Golden Eagle defense for what would prove to be the game winner.

 “We’ve worked hard on trying to score off a corner kick. That was our first one this year,” Lady Mocs head coach J.D. Kzyer said. “Getting that first goal helps and a team this young needs a lot of confidence.”

Valdez netted her second score of the year at the 36:31 mark on a pass from freshman Elizabeth Southall to give the Lady Mocs a 2-0 lead. The only other time Valdez has netted two goals in a single game was against Tennessee Tech on Sept. 3, 2003. She also had three assists in the 5-3 win that day to give her a school record seven points. 

In the second half, freshman Chelsea Hurst added to the point total with a goal of her own, her second of the season, at 78:26. Jenkins tallied her second assist of the game with a pass to Hurst who nearly scored again just 15 seconds later. Her shot would just miss the mark getting past the Tech keeper and clipping the goal post.

“We had more people on today,” Kyzer said. “With the youth of this team that is very important.” 

Tennessee Tech outshot the Lady Mocs 26-18 with an 11-7 on goal margin. TTU keeper Loretta McNamee tallied four saves and gave up three goals while Chattanooga keeper senior Stacey Matthiessen had nine saves in the game.

Hurst had six shots for Chattanooga while Valdez and Nikki Brannen each took four. The sporhGolden Eagles offensive push came from Rebecca Ross with six shots, Katie Morriesey with five and four from Jennifer Hoffman. 

Chattanooga improves to 3-2-1 on the year while the Golden Eagles fall to 1-5-0 overall. The Lady Mocs will take on Austin Peay Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. Eastern time in Clarksville, Tenn.