Georgia Southern 1, Winthrop 0
ROCK HILL, S.C. ? Defender Colleen Deignan scored the game-winning goal with 20 seconds remaining in double-overtime to give the Georgia Southern women’s soccer team a 1-0, non-conference victory at Winthrop, Friday night (Sep. 28).
Deignan (Coral Springs, Fla.) connected off a corner-kick pass from teammate Susanne Rogers (Augusta, Ga.) to score her first career goal and lift Georgia Southern to its first-ever victory over Winthrop.
With the win, GSU improves to 2-6-0 overall and snaps a two-game skid, while Winthrop falls to 0-4-3 on the season.
“Susanne did a great job of serving the ball and Colleen had great composure to finish it in the last few seconds,” said head coach Ashley Hart.
Both teams battled back and forth throughout the regulation 90 minutes, tallying nine total shots, apiece.
“I’m really pleased with our effort tonight,” said Hart. “It was a pretty evenly matched game. Both teams possessed the ball well. I thought we did a good job of possessing the ball in the middle and creating chances. But their defenders and their goalkeeper did a good job of limiting shots on goal.”
Before the game-winner, Winthrop was successful in warding off the Georgia Southern offensive attack, holding GSU to zero shots on goal.
Likewise, Georgia Southern limited Winthrop to only four shots on goal, each one of them saved by sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Santos (Berwyn, Ill.), who garnered her first win and shutout of the season.
“Lauren organized well in the back,” said Hart. “Our defense did a good job as a whole in limiting their chances.”
GSU was led in shots by junior Ashley Toussaint (Warner Robins, Ga.) with three, followed by senior Katie Gosnell (Charleston, S.C.) with two.
Winthrop led GSU in both shots (11-10) and corner kicks (5-4).
Georgia Southern will return back home to Statesboro for a Southern Conference match-up with Chattanooga, Sunday, Sep. 30 at 2 p.m.
College of Charleston 2, Elon 0
A goal by Kerry Broderick just a minute into the contest proved to be the difference as the College of Charleston women’s soccer team opened Southern Conference play by blanking the Elon Phoenix, 2-0, tonight in front of 261 fans at Patriots Point Field in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
Charleston evens its record to 4-4 overall and 1-0 in the league. Elon falls to 2-6-1 overall and 0-1 in the SoCon
“We wanted to get a fast start and Kerry (Broderick) delivered the goal,” said Head Coach Kevin Dempsey. “It was a good performance after some adversity this past week. I’m very proud of the team. Certainly, we’ve got a long way to go in the conference.”
The Cougars stormed out of the gate quickly, with Broderick hitting the back of the net at the 1:05 mark. Brittany Schneider, who picked up the assist, took the ball down the right flank, crossing it to Broderick, who first-timed it into the back post for the score.
The second goal came 28 minutes later at 29:49 off Danielle Jordan. Schneider picked up her second assist of the game as she was able to find Jordan on the left flank. Jordan collected the ball and fired a shot into the upper left corner of the near post, making the score 2-0.
CofC out-shot the Phoenix 16-3, with Sarah Wiggers picking up two saves on the night for the win and her first shutout of the season. Elon’s Lizz Johnson had four saves in the loss. Charleston led in corner kicks, 7-3, as well.
Leading the offense for the Cougars was Megan Manthey with her four shots. Katie Browne and Chrissy Caruso followed with three each. Three different Elon players had a shot each on the night.
Charleston takes to the road for its next match, traveling to Appalachian State Sunday, Sept. 30th for a 1:00 p.m. contest. Elon hosts Furman the same day, but at 2:00 p.m.