Appalachian State 1, Davidson 0
BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State women’s soccer picked up its fifth-consecutive win and its first-ever against Davidson as ASU prevailed, 1-0, against the defending Southern Conference regular-season champions Thursday afternoon at the ASU Soccer Stadium. The win keeps ASU atop the SoCon standings at 3-0 in league play and is the squad’s fourth-consecutive shutout.
The two squads played an extremely close-fought game and also had to battle a severe thunderstorm that generated strong winds, hail and lighting. The match was suspended for a total of an hour due to weather and when play resumed the temperature had dropped nearly 20 degrees with a cold, driving rain.
Casey Cleary (Wellington, Fla.) scored the game-winning goal in the 47th minute with a ball into the center of the net off a cross from Dana Murphy (Greensboro, N.C.). The goal was her fifth tally of the season. Appalachian nearly scored in the fifth minute of play on a hard shot from Murphy that Davidson keeper Bevin English managed to deflect into the crossbar.
In the 56th minute the game would fall under the first weather delay with the teams being called off for 15 minutes as hail pelted the field. Seven minutes later they would again be called off for 45 minutes due to lighting.
After the delay, with 26 minutes left in the match, Davidson attempted to stage a comeback but was thwarted as the Mountaineers clamped down and nearly added an insurance goal as time wound down. The win was the first in the series for ASU after 16 previous losses and two ties.
Davidson’s offense was led by Suzanne Sittko and Tiffany Mumby with two shots each. Freshman Jennifer MacNeill (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) had a match-high five shots in the win. Cleary and Murphy each had two shots on goal. Both defenses showed outstanding poise, surrendering just three combined corner kicks. Emma White (Arden, N.C.) made three saves in goal for her fourth shutout of the season. Her counterpart, Bevin English, made four stops.
The Mountaineers’ overall record improves to 7-4-0, the Wildcats fall to
5-4-1 overall and 1-1-0 in the SoCon with the loss. Appalachian will put its perfect conference record on the line against College of Charleston on Sunday, October 1 at 1 p.m. in Charleston, S.C.