The Citadel 2, Georgia Southern 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? The Citadel soccer defeated Georgia Southern, 2-1, Friday night at WLI Field on The Citadel’s campus, giving the Bulldogs their first SoCon match in program history.
The Bulldogs opened the rainy first half with a shot on goal by Nikkita Persaud within the first three minutes of the half. The Citadel continued to put pressure on the Eagles but Whitney Nave blocked a shot but was rebounded for a Georgia Southern goal. The Eagles led 1-0 at halftime.
The Citadel owned the game in second half. Within the first minute of the half, Amy Loughran drove the ball down the field to pass it to Jessa Scott and Scott put a point on the board for the Bulldogs. The Citadel was on fire as Nicole Martinoli and Amy Loughran shot two times before Martinoli kicked a high penalty kick with 35 minutes on the clock and Kristine Devine headed the ball to Loughran for the second goal for the Bulldogs. The Citadel’s defense held the Eagles scoreless in the second half forcing Georgia Southern to fall 2-3 in the SoCon and the Bulldogs to improve 3-8-1 overall and 1-4 in the SoCon. This is the first SoCon win for The Citadel in program history.
The Citadel outshot the Eagles 11-10 and earned only six fouls while Georgia Southern had 12. Whitney Nave earned her second career and season win. She had six saves against the Eagles bringing her career and season total to 53 saves and 798 minutes of play time.
Jessa Scott led the team with three shots and two on goal. Nicole Martinoli also had three shots with one on goal while Amy Loughran had two shots with one on goal. Nikkita Persaud, Nikki Mares and Hannah Warne each had one shot with one on goal.
Scott racked up her second goal of the season bringing her career total to eight goals and four assist. Loughran tallied her fifth goal of the season and also earned her second assist in 2008.
Elon 3, Appalachian State 2
ELON, N.C. -- Molly Calpin scored twice while Susannah Gianakos netted one goal and assisted on two others as the Elon Phoenix jumped on the visiting Appalachian State Mountaineers early and then held on for a 3-2 Southern Conference women's soccer victory on Friday night. With the win, Elon improved to 6-4-2 overall and 2-2-1 in league play. The six victories surpass last season's total of five wins. Appalachian State now sits at 5-5-2, 1-3-1.
Just over 27 minutes into the game, Gianakos sent a ball to Calpin who headed the ball to herself between two defenders and then beat ASU's Caroline Clark low to the right for the first score of the game.
The Phoenix lead grew to 2-0 at 37:11 when Calpin struck for her fifth goal of the season. Gianakos sent the ball up the line to Katina Boozer to start the attack. Bozzer centered the ball to Calpin who blasted the shot home.
Boozer was in on the next Phoenix tally as well as she crossed a ball off a Mountaineer defender to Gianakos. Gianakos took the shot and netted her third goal of the season to give Elon a 3-0 lead at 41:35.
The Mountaineers got on the board at 43:48 when Caroline Lowe sent a corner to the back side of the box that found the feet of Casey Cleary. Cleary struck the attempt into the left side of the goal to pull ASU within 3-1 at the break.
Lowe and Cleary teamed up again at 75:08 when Lowe sent a cross to Cleary who again found the back of the net. It was her fourth goal of the season and pulled ASU within one at 3-2.
That was the last attempt of the night for Appalachian State who kept the pressure up for the final 15 minutes, but was unable to get off a shot as the Elon defense clamped down.
Sydney Little stopped two attempts on the night.
Clarke finished the evening with eight saves for ASU.
Elon held commanding advantages in total shots (18-7) and shots on goal (11-4). Appalachian earned five corners to Elon's two and committed 15 fouls to nine Phoenix fouls.
Of Elon's six victories this season, this was the first that did not come in a shutout.
The Phoenix will pay a visit to Western Carolina for a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday. The Mountaineers will host UNC Greensboro at 3:30 p.m. that same day.
UNC Greensboro 2, Western Carolina 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Katelynn Donovan scored her sixth and seventh goals of the season in the first 18:18 of the match as UNC Greensboro defeated Western Carolina, 2-0, in a top of the standings Southern Conference women’s soccer battle Friday night.
The win was the 100th in the career of UNCG coach Eddie Radwanski. In his eighth season at UNCG, he is now 100-56-10 as the coach of the Spartans.
With the win, UNCG raised its record to 9-4-1 overall and 4-0-1 (13 points) in the conference. Western Carolina, which had won five straight matches all by shutout, dropped to 7-6-0 overall and 4-1-0 (12 points) in the SoCon, falling from the top of the standings.
Donovan, a junior from Melville, N.Y., scored at 8:27 give UNCG a 1-0 lead. Nicole Danford played a ball from the left side down the end line. Donovan got the ball on the doorstep, studder-stepped and then popped the ball into the right side of the goal.
Donovan struck again at 18:18 with a shot from the top right corner of the box. Jen Bronson threw the ball in at the feet of Donovan. Donovan dribbled twice, seeing the defense was playing off of her, and struck a perfectly placed ball just inside the left post for a 2-0 lead.
That was all Kelsey Kearney needed to record her fourth straight shutout, while the Spartans snapped a 415-minute scoreless string for the Catamounts’ keeper Caitlin Williams. Kearney, a freshman from Durham, NC has not allowed a goal in her last five appearances going back to September 19th, when she gave up three to Wake Forest. Kearned has not allowed a goal in her last 452:27 of action. The product of Durham Academy lowered her goals against average to 0.63 and bettered her save percentage to .860 with two stops on the night.
UNCG outshot Western Carolina, 14-7, including a 9-3 first half advantage when the Spartans were pressuring the Catamounts. Western Carolina adjusted in the second half and the shots were 5-4 in favor of UNCG.
Wofford 4, Chattanooga 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Wofford’s Cassie Rex netted a hat trick to lead the Terriers to a 4-2 win over Chattanooga in Southern Conference action Friday night at the North River Soccer Complex.
The win was the first in the SoCon for the Terriers this year who improve to 2-7-4 overall and 1-3-1 in the SoCon. Chattanooga falls to 4-9-1 overall and 1-4 against conference opponents.
Rex got the scoring started in the first half with a corner kick that got past everyone and slid into the goal at the 26:35 mark. That score would stand through halftime.
A flurry of second half goals saw Chattanooga tie the match after Wofford took a two-goal lead. Shortly into the second half, Maggie McLaughlin took a pass from Monica Ploetzke to increase the Terriers lead to 2-0 with 49:50 gone in the game.
Chattanooga struck back quickly on a pair of goals from freshman D.K. Henry. Chelsea Hurst sent a free kick from the left side toward the goal. Henry picked up the pass and sent a header past Wofford’s keeper to get the Lady Mocs to within one at 2-1 at the 50:48 mark.
Henry struck again less than four minutes later with 54:25 gone in the game. She sent a strike from 25 yards out that deflected off the hand of the Terriers’ keeper and over her head, tying the match 2-2.
Rex struck back in the 61st minute taking a pass form Erika Bishop and scored the game winner. She nabbed her third goal of the game on a penalty kick for the final score 4-2 in the 88th minute.
Chattanooga will be on the road to Furman Sunday for a 2 p.m. match in Greenville while Wofford will head home to host Southern Conference newcomer Samford in Spartanburg, S.C.
College of Charleston 1, Davidson 0 (OT)
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. --- A goal 1:50 into the first overtime period by Megan Manthey was the difference, as the College of Charleston women's soccer team defeated Davidson 1-0 in rainy conditions at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium on Friday night.
With the win, the Cougars improve to 9-3-2 on the year, 2-2-1 in the SoCon, while Davidson falls to 6-3-3, 4-1-0 in the SoCon.
In the first half, both teams had numerous opportunities to get on the scoreboard, but could not convert on any attempts.
One sequence in particular occurred in the last 20 seconds of the first half, in which the Cougars attacked the Davidson goal with a flurry of shots, only to be denied by Wildcat goalie Jessie Baxa on each attempt.
In the second half, a steady rain began to fall and with that, the Charleston defense clamped up and did not allow Davidson to take a shot the entire period. The Cougars, however, only took two shots in the period and the match proceeded to go to overtime.
It was in overtime that Manthey took control. With the Cougars once again attacking the Davidson net, Manthey lined up a shot from just outside the box on the near side of the field. She took the shot and watched as the ball floated over Davidson goalie Christy Carry and into the goal, ending the game.
At the end of the night, the Cougars out shot the Wildcats 8-4 in the match. Goalie Erin Smith earned her sixth shutout victory of the season after making three saves in between the pipes for Charleston.
Samford 3, Furman 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Junior Amber Cress scored a pair of goals and added an assist as Samford blanked Furman, 3-0, in Southern Conference women’s soccer action Friday night in Birmingham, Ala.
With the win, Samford improved to 4-8-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the SoCon. Furman, losers of two straight SoCon matches, fell to 8-5-1 overall and 2-3 in the league.
Cress put the Bulldogs ahead in the 28th minute finishing in front of net off a deflection and assists from Leah Leppert and Natalie Fleming. At the 59:21 mark, Cress dribbled around the Furman keeper and put away her second goal of the night to double the Samford lead.
Leppert capped the 3-0 victory scoring her first goal of the season on assists from Cress and Caroline Baxter at 86:08.
Both teams attempted 15 shots with Samford holding a 7-6 edge in shots on goal. Alyssa Whitehead notched the shutout for the Bulldogs turning away six shots while Jessica Smith recorded four saves for Furman.