UNC Greensboro 3, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. UNC Greensboro scored two early first period goals and held off a strong second-half charge by Davidson in picking a 3-0 win as the Wildcats saw their eight-game unbeaten streak come to an end at Alumni Stadium on Sunday afternoon in Southern Conference women's soccer action.
Davidson suffered its first home loss of the season in falling to 8-4-1 overall and 3-1-1 in league play. UNCG ran its winning streak to five games with the win to improve to 8-3-1 overall and 5-0-0 in SoCon action.
Both goalies were tested early as each team took a shot in taking an early lead in a battle of two teams undefeated in league play. Sophomore Kyri Bye-Nagel (Hanau, Germany) got off three shots, two of them directly on goal in the first ten minutes that UNCG's Katherine Ryan had to make two jumping stabs at to halt the Wildcat attack.
Senior Bevin English (Charleston, S.C.) made two diving stops, one on a shot from the near side and another on a shot that was struck from about 20 yards out by Lauren Lopez. English finished the contest with four saves as she saw her record drop to 7-4-1.
UNC Greensboro broke through in the 16th minute thanks to Kristin Player. Jennifer Bronson started the scoring rally when she fed a look pass to Player, who broke past the Wildcat defense in the middle of the field. She then battled with senior Nancy Haskell (Blacksburg, Va.), who rode Player's left hip until the 18-yard box where Player shot one past a diving English on the near side of the goal. It was Player's eight score of the season.
The Spartans struck again at the 28:02 mark on a give-and-go by Heather Mitrisin and Jenn Parternheimer. Mitrisin drove the ball down the far side and worked it into the middle where she fed Parternheimer, who was streaking down the near side of the field. Parternheimer gathered in the one touch pass and drove past her defender, placing a near post side shot past English, who was charging to the right-corner of the 18-yard box.
Davidson did its best in trying to come back from the two-goal deficit after halftime with eight second-half shots, including three from Bye-Nagel, who nearly missed a near post shot in the 59th minute. She also picked up another direct shot on goal in the 76th minute, but was never able to get one of her eight shots on the day to find the back of the net.
Katie Jordan closed out the scoring for the Spartans with a shot to near post in the 18-yard box at the 77:13 mark for the final score of 3-0. Jenn Partenheimer and Kelly Attayek were credited with assists on the play.
The Spartan's Katherine Ryan registered six saves to earn her fourth win of the season.
Davidson did have a 13-10 advantage in shots, placing six of them on goal, while earning three corner kicks.
The Wildcats look to get back on the winning track when they play host to College of Charleston on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m. The Cougars are currently 4-0-1 in league play.
Scoring Summary:
16:16 UNCG Kristin Player (8) (Jen Bronson)
28:02 UNCG Jenn Partenheimer (2) (Heather Mitrisin)
77:13 UNCG Katie Jordan (1) (Jenn Partenheimer, Kelly Attayek)
Furman 2, Wofford 0
Greenville, S.C. -- Rachel Fry scored twice and Briana da Mota notched her fifth shutout of the season as Furman blanked Wofford 2-0 in Southern Conference women’s soccer action Sunday afternoon at Stone Soccer Stadium.
The win, Furman’s third straight and seventh in its last eight outings, pushed the Lady Paladins’ record to 11-4-0 overall and 5-1-0 in SoCon play. The Terriers slipped to 5-7-2 overall and 1-3-1 inside the league.
Fry put the Lady Paladins out in front just past the 14-minute mark with her sixth goal of the season. Anna Betton ripped a shot past the keeper that glanced off the far post and Fry pounced on the loose ball inside the six-yard box top put Furman ahead 1-0 at 14:06.
In the 34th minute, Sara El-Shami took control of the ball in the center of the field and fed Graham Marchman down the right wing. Marchman played a low cross into the six-yard box and Fry poked a shot past Terrier keeper Katie McChesney for her seventh goal of the season.
“I was pleased to see Rachel Fry finish her chances today,” said Furman head coach Andrew Burr. “Wofford was a solid opponent that played tough for a full 90 minutes.”
The Terriers turned up the pressure with eight second half shots, but da Mota preserved the shutout with five saves. With less the 22 minutes remaining, Monica Ploetzke got behind the Furman defense on a through ball, but da Mota came up with the point-blank save to hold Wofford scoreless.
Furman finished with a 16-10 edge in shot attempts and 7-4 advantage on corner kicks.
Furman returns to action October 21, when it hosts SoCon preseason favorite UNC Greensboro in a 2 p.m. match at Stone Soccer Stadium. The Terriers will return to action with a 6 p.m. Friday match-up with Chattanooga at Snyder Field in the next-to-last home contest of the season.
College of Charleston 4, The Citadel 1
Charleston, S.C- Three first half goals were the difference Sunday afternoon as the College of Charleston defeated cross-town rival The Citadel, 4-1.
In the 20th minute of play, the Cougars went ahead after Chrissy Caruso found the back of the net off a miss-hit ball from the Bulldogs. Caruso lead the Cougars with five shots, three on goal. Ten minutes later, the Cougars would capitalize on another Bulldog mistake when Christian Patton won the ball from a Citadel defender whose quick shot to the corner of the net went past Citadel goalkeeper, Emily Green, and made the score 2-0 College of Charleston.
The Citadel fought back and almost got on the board when freshman Nicole Martinoli ripped a shot from the six-yard line. But after being tripped up, the ball went just wide of the posts creating The Citadel’s first corner kick of the match.
The Cougars would go on to score their third goal of the game when Patton crossed the ball from the right flank of the field and connected with Morgan Benz, who headed it past Green.
After coming back from the halftime break, the Bulldogs nearly doubled their shots from the first half within the first 10 minutes of play. Sophomore Kristine Devin he and freshman Jessica Stewart both had their eyes on the goal, but their shots were saved by Cougar goalkeeper, Lizz Johnson. Johnson had three saves in the game.
The Cougars answered The Bulldog’s offensive threats when Christy Barrow found Megan Manthey, who then placed the ball into the lower left corner of the goal, past Bulldog goalkeeper, Lisa Wilson.
The Citadel kept fighting and their offensive determination was rewarded when Dianna Martin shot a rocket past Johnson for her third goal of the season.
Despite being outshot 16-11, the Citadel had 10 of those shots all in the second half of the game. Freshman Jessa Scott lead the way with three shots, while six other Bulldogs took a crack on the goal. Green tallied four saves and Wilson two.
“Although, the score does not reflect it, today was the best soccer we played in a long time,” said coach Bob Winch. “CofC is a quality team that will make you pay for mistakes in the back.”
The Bulldogs will have five days off until they return to action when they travel to play UNC Greensboro, October 19th at 7:00 p.m.
Elon 1, Georgia Southern 0
ELON, N.C. ? A single goal 20 minutes into the second half of play was all that the Elon Phoenix women’s soccer squad needed to earn its third consecutive victory, a 1-0 triumph over the visiting Georgia Southern Eagles from Rudd Field on Sunday afternoon. The three-game winning streak, the first for Elon since winning three in a row from October 21-28, 2005, now has the Phoenix record at 5-7-1 overall and 3-2-0 in Southern Conference play. Georgia Southern dipped to 2-10-1, 1-4-1.
Both squads had opportunities in the first half, but could not capitalize. The Phoenix put five shots on frame while the Eagles sent three chances on goal in the first 45 minutes.
At 65:08 Elon’s Brittany Hallberg broke the stalemate with her third score of the season. Hallberg took a pass from Molly Calpin in the box and beat GSU’s Lauren Santos for the contest’s only goal.
Elon made the lone goal stand up and Lizz Johnson turned away two Eagle shots in the final five minutes to preserve the Phoenix’s second shutout of the season.
The Phoenix outshot the Eagles by a 14-11 margin overall and held a 10-5 edge in shots on goal. Both Hallberg and Katina Boozer blasted four shots. All four of Hallberg’s attempts were on frame. Ashley Toussaint led the Georgia Southern attack with five shots, one of which was on goal.
On the afternoon, Johnson grabbed five saves while Santos stopped eight shots.
Elon returns to the pitch on Thursday, Oct. 18 with a 3 p.m. contest at Appalachian State. Georgia Southern will host Western Carolina at 3 p.m. the following afternoon.
Western Carolina 6, Chattanooga 1
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Western Carolina women’s soccer team, behind a season-high six goals, defeated the Chattanooga Mocs, 6-1, on a postcard-worthy Sunday afternoon at the Catamount Athletic Complex. Six different players contributed with goals in the match, with assists to five different players. As a team, WCU outshot the Mocs 36-8, only three shots behind their high of 39, set against The Citadel two weeks ago.
The Cats didn’t waste any time lighting up the scoreboard in the match, when four minutes in, senior Heather Dittmer gathered a deflected shot attempt, and fired a shot that rolled past the goalkeeper and into the lower left hand corner of the net. It was Dittmer’s second goal of the year, and it moved her into a tie for fourth place on the WCU all-time list with 15 career goals.
WCU’s Lauren Atkinson joined Dittmer in moving up the career goals list when only two minutes later, she took a long run pass by teammate Nikki Lombardo and blew past the UTC defense to put her shot into the back of the net for the score. It was her second goal of the year, and moved her into sixth place on the all-time list with 14 goals in her WCU career. The score also gave Atkinson eight points on the season, putting her in the team lead.
Lombardo added to her point total at the 17:42 mark when she received a picture-perfect backwards heel flick pass from Shannon Fowkes across the box, waited for the UTC goalkeeper to commit to leaving the goal, and finished the play with a chip shot over the keeper’s left shoulder from two yards out for her second goal on the year. Combined with her earlier assist, she ended the game with a team-high three points.
Just before halftime, freshman Liz Eichler picked up a rebounded shot by Rebekah Mumm and went far corner for her second career goal, putting the halftime score at 4-0 for the Catamounts. The four goal lead was the highest first-half margin achieved Western all season.
The second half brought just as many fireworks as the first, led off by Rachael Shomper’s team-leading third goal of the season. Shomper’s hustle to gather a long pass by Buki Baruwa that had gotten past the UTC goalkeeper allowed her to tap in the empty-net shot for the score. Shomper outran the entire Chattanooga (0-9-2, 0-4-1 Southern Conference) defense to get to the ball and get the easy shot.
WCU rounded out their scoring at the 62:44 mark of the game when Jenny Matteson put in her first goal of the season. The play was set up by the lightning-fast speed of senior defender Melissa Berry, who took the ball the length of the field, flying past Chattanooga defenders the entire way. As she approached the goal line, she drew the UTC defense in, then lifted a cross into the middle of the box, where Matteson took a one touch shot into the goal. It was the normally defensive-minded Berry’s first assist on the season.