Furman 4, USC Upstate 1
Greenville, S.C. -- Furman scored three goals in a span of two minutes to rally from a 1-0 second half deficit and blow past USC Upstate 4-1 in the home opener for the Lady Paladins Thursday evening at Stone Soccer Stadium.
The win improved Furman to 3-0 on the season while the Spartans dipped to 1-1. The Lady Paladins’ three straight victories marks just the third time in school history Furman has opened the campaign with three consecutive wins.
“We are happy to be 3-0,” said Furman head coach Andrew Burr. “We did a great job of possessing the ball and creating chances tonight, especially in the second half.”
Trailing 1-0 after 64 minutes, Ann Betton netted the equalizer for the Lady Paladins. The All-Southern Conference performer took a pass on the left side of the box from Rachel Fry and dribbled past her defender before slipping a shot by the Spartan goalkeeper at the near post at 64:10.
Just 40 seconds later, Sara El-Shami found space in the box, but had her shot blocked back in her path. The sophomore directed another shot at goal that was deflected into the path of Lucy Martin who hammered home the eventual game-wining goal to give Furman a 2-1 lead at 64:50.
Furman wasted little time adding to the lead at 66:09. After a foul just outside the box, Gena Villari played a quick free kick to Betton on the right side who picked out Katie Tucker in front of the net. Tucker touched a four-yard shot past USC Upstate’s Samantha Spradley to up the lead to 3-1.
Betton capped the scoring at 86:30. Fry delivered a cross from the left side to the far post where Betton bodied the ball into an open net for her second goal of the night.
Furman had plenty of chances to open up a lead early in the game outshooting the Spartans 12-1 in the first half. Fry headed a shot off of the right post in the 15th minute and narrowly missed giving Furman the lead in the 38th minute when her bending shot from the right side of the box beat Spradley, but struck the cross bar.
Nicole Trawick gave Upstate the lead at 51:02. The forward was left space just inside 30 yards and her dipping shot snuck between the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Briana da Mota and the cross bar.
Furman held a commanding 27-5 edge in shots for the game and surrendered just one shot on goal.
The Lady Paladins return to action Sunday when they visit East Carolina for a 1 p.m. contest. USC Upstate returns to Spartanburg to host Alabama A&M on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Elon 2, High Point 2
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Elon Phoenix women's soccer team stormed back in the second half to take a 2-1 lead only to see the High Point Panthers knot the contest at 2-2 and force two overtime periods during which neither team could score. The game was the second straight overtime tilt for the Phoenix who now sits at 1-1-1 on the season. High Point now owns an 0-2-1 ledger in 2007.
Jen Evans put the Panthers on top 17:22 into the match when she blasted a shot from the top of the 18-yard box past Elon's Lizz Johnson for her first goal of the season. Courtney Spotts was credited with an assist on the play.
The rest of the first half remained scoreless before a roughly five minute flurry of action in the second half saw the rest of the night's scoring occur. Elon evened the score at 1-1 in the 56th minute when Molly Calpin netted her first goal of the year. Calpin settled a redirected header pass from Kerri Speers in the six-yard box for the score.
Alix Heinicke's lead pass was knocked home by Katina Boozer at 60:13 to put the Phoenix on top 2-1. It was the first goal of the season for Boozer.
High Point's goal just 30 seconds later proved to be the one that determined the outcome, however. Sara Reger passed a ball in to Laura Eldridge who headed it into the back of the net for her first marker of 2007 to even the score at 2-2.
Neither team was able to get much going in overtime. The Panthers took seven shots in the two extra periods while the Phoenix was unable to get off a shot.
Johnson stopped five shots while allowing the two High Point goals and played the entire 110 minutes. Marisa Abbott did not make a save while going the distance in net for the Panthers.
High Point dominated the shots category, blasting 23 total shots to just three for Elon. Shots on goal were 8-2 in favor of the Panthers who also held a commanding 13-2 lead in corner kicks taken.
Up next for Elon is a 1:00 p.m. game with Campbell which will be played at High Point on Saturday afternoon as part of the HPU Invitational. Campbell (0-1-0) fell by a 3-0 margin to North Carolina State in the tournament's first game on Thursday.
Tennessee Tech 4, Chattanooga 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Freshman Sara Francescon notched her first collegiate goal, but it wouldn't be enough for the Lady Mocs who fell 4-1 to Tennessee Tech Thursday evening at the Tech Soccer Field in Cookeville, Tenn.
Francescon took a pass from sophomore Chelsea Hurst early in the second half to cut the Golden Eagle lead to 2-1 in the 57th minute, but that was all the offense Chattanooga would get. Tech outshot the Lady Mocs 21-5 and UTC freshman keeper Milla Junni, playing all 90 minutes in goal, tallied seven saves for the second straight game.
The Golden Eagles scored quickly on a goal by Kristin Hennek at the 3:44 mark to take a 1-0 lead. Nearly 12 minutes later, TTU’s Robin Reynolds put Tech up 2-0 scoring off a corner kick from Katie Hoover. That score would stand at halftime.
The second half seemed to start Chattanooga’s way with TTU’s Michelle Decker receiving a yellow card warning at the 54:16 mark followed shortly by Francescon’s goal.
The Golden Eagles would take the game back with goals by Decker and Brianne Lankford, sister of UTC midfielder Arielle Lankford. The teams combined for 26 fouls and Tech took six corners while the Lady Mocs had just two. Tennessee Tech’s keeper Loretta McNamee notched three saves, giving up just one goal.
Chattanooga falls to 0-2 on the season and TTU picked up its first win of the season, improving to 1-2. The Lady Mocs will be back in action at Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m. in Richmond, Ky. Sunday’s home opener against the Alabama A&M has been cancelled.
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 3:44 TTU HENNEK, Kristin (1) ROSS, Rebecca
2. 15:16 TTU REYNOLDS, Robin (1) HOOVER, Katie
3. 56:49 UTC Sara Francescon Chelsea Hurst
4. 70:46 TTU DECKER, Michelle (1) LANKFORD, Brianne Header goal
5. 76:16 TTU LANKFORD, Brianne (1) HOOVER, Katie
CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS:
YC-TTU #5 (54:16)