Furman 3, Georgia Southern 1
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Furman scored three goals in a three minute span during the first half on its way to a 3-1 victory over Georgia Southern in Southern Conference women’s soccer action Thursday afternoon in Statesboro, Ga.
The Eagles (2-9-1, 1-3-1) maintained control for most of the first 15 minutes, tallying a pair of shots from juniors Ashley Toussaint (Warner Robins, Ga.) and Susanne Rogers (Augusta, Ga.). But in the 20th minute, the Paladins (10-4-1, 4-1-0) took advantage of their front-line speed and capitalized.
Furman’s Emily Krankowski broke the scoring drought with 19:59 on the clock after beating the defense, receiving a lobbed ball from teammate Mickey Palanza, and finding the back of the net from 10 yards out.
Furman added a pair of goals in the 21st and 23rd minutes to give the Paladins a 3-0 advantage. Ashley Creavalle intercepted the defense’s pass and fired a shot from 30 yards out for Furman’s second winner, and later, Rachel Fry collected a deflected pass and one-touched a shot for the team’s third goal.
Georgia Southern continued to attack and soon produced one its best scoring opportunities of the first half. Freshman Elissa Botts (Grovetown, Ga.) broke away from the Furman defense and collected an over-head pass, but was taken down in inside the box. A foul was called, the Eagles were awarded a penalty kick and junior Holli Finneren (Lake Orion, Mich.) notched her second goal of the season, closing the Furman lead to 3-1.
Going into the locker room, Furman led the shots total 10-3.
The Eagles changed the momentum in the second stanza, reducing Furman’s shot opportunities to just four.
“I thought we did a good job in the second half,” said head coach Ashley Hart. “Our defense was pretty solid, I thought we were much more organized, we did a good job of shutting down (Anna) Betton and eliminating good looks at goal.”
The Eagles added two more shots in the second half off the feet of Toussaint and freshman Jenny Anderson (Birmingham, Ala.), but were unable to even up the score.
“I think we lost our composure for a little while in the first half,” said Hart. “But I’m proud of the way we were more organized in the second half and we played much better soccer as a whole.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Santos (Berwyn, Ill.) made eight saves in a full 90 minutes of play, while Furman’s Briana da Mota garnered the victory stopping three shots on goal.
Furman led the Eagles in shots (14-5) and corner kicks (4-2).
The Eagles will next leave Statesboro to take on Elon, Sunday, Oct. 14. The conference match-up is slated for 2 p.m. at Rudd Field in Elon, N.C. The Lady Paladins return home on Sunday to host the Wofford Terriers in a 2 p.m. SoCon match at Stone Soccer Stadium.
College of Charleston 2, Western Carolina 0
Mt. Pleasant, S.C. -- Christy Barrow and Megan Manthey scored in the second half to lift the College of Charleston women's soccer team to the 2-0 victory over SoCon foe Western Carolina tonight at Patriots Point Field.
"I'm very proud of the group," said CofC head coach Kevin Dempsey. "Western Carolina is always the most intense team in the conference and we knew coming in that we had to match their intensity and we were able to do that."
The win keeps the Cougars unbeaten in the SoCon with a 7-5-1 overall record and 4-0-1 in the conference. The Catamounts fall to 7-7-0 and 2-3-0 in the league.
The Cougar defense held the Catamounts to just three shots in the first half, with each team making only six attempts total in a game dominated by defense.
Western Carolina's best shot came in the 44th minute when midfielder Heather Dittmer's shot ricocheted off the right post, just missing the net.
Barrow scored the game-winning shot in the 55th minute, after she headed a cross from Manthey from five yards out to find the right side of the net (54:25). The goal is her third of the season.
"We had another shutout and great performances by Christy (Barrow) and all of the girls. Sarah (Wiggers) had a couple of great saves as well."
In the Cougars' second goal Brittany Schneider crossed the ball to Chrissy Caruso who passed off to Manthey. After fighting through two defenders, Manthey found the back of the goal from five yards out in the 72nd minute to secure the lead.
CofC travels across town to face The Citadel Sun., Oct. 14, at Washington Light Infantry Field in Charleston, S.C, at 1 p.m. Western Carolina will look to get back on the winning track when they host Chattanooga on Sunday afternoon at the Catamount Athletic Center. It is the second to last home match of the season for the team, and kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m.