UNC Greensboro 1, College of Charleston 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - College of Charleston women's soccer was edged by UNC Greensboro, 1-0, as the two teams battled to stay on top of the conference on Friday evening at Patriots Point Stadium.
The win ties the Spartans (11-6-0, 7-2 SoCon) with the Cougars (11-5-1, 7-2 SoCon) for first place in the Southern Conference.
The Cougars started the night strong as sophomore midfielder Hannah Gmerek struck at 15:43 and was blocked by a Spartan defender. Three minutes later, junior defender Annie Pease took a free kick from 35 yards out but was stopped by UNCG goalkeeper Kelsey Kearney.
After a scoreless first half, both teams emerged newly energized for the second half. Pease drilled a shot off at the 56:06 mark for her second shot on goal but was once again blocked by Kearney. After nearly scoring off a shot that was just a hair wide at 54:48, freshman Maryam Buazza attempted to knock one in from inside the box before Kearney scooped it up for her third save of the evening.
UNC Greensboro's Jenn Partenheimer made the Spartans only shot on goal, picking up a pass from the right side of the penalty box and drilling a shot from 22 yards out in the upper 90 past goalkeeper senior Sarah Wiggers. Her goal at 66:06 was the third of the season.
College of Charleston battled back but was unable to even the score before time ran out. The Cougars held an 11-6 edge in shots but were outnumbered in corner kicks, 8-2.
Charleston plays its final home game of the regular season on Sunday when the Cougars host Elon. The team's seven seniors will be honored prior to the start of the game.
Elon 2, The Citadel 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. - An Alanna Winsper goal with 12 minutes to play proved the game-winner as the Elon women's soccer team earned a 2-1 victory over The Citadel at WLI Field in Southern Conference action on Friday afternoon. With its 11th win of the season, the Phoenix (11-4-2, 6-2-1) has won the most games since the 1996 season and the most ever during the Division I era. The Citadel dropped to 5-10-2 overall and 2-5-2 in the league.
After Elon took the lead in the first half, the Bulldogs knotted the score in the 67th minute on a goal by Amy Loughran. Loughran intercepted a pass off the Elon back line, dribbled across the field and rocketed a shot to tie the score at one all.
The Phoenix kept up its pressure and at the 77:49 mark freshman Caroline McKinley found the foot of Winsper for the go-ahead goal. McKinley served the ball to Winsper who took one touch before blasting a shot to the far post from about 15 yards out. The strike was the junior's second of the season. Elon held off The Citadel for the final minutes of the contest to earn its fourth victory in the last five games.
While the first half was fairly even in terms of chances, Elon managed to get a goal off a restart in the 19th minute of action. After a Citadel foul deep in Elon's offensive third, Liz Palmer notched her league-leading 11th assist of the season, sending a perfect ball in the box where rookie Scarlett Fakhar headed it to the back post to give the Phoenix the advantage. Fakhar has scored two goals in her first season of collegiate soccer.
For the match, Elon held a 16-8 advantage in shots, including an 8-2 tally in the second period. The Phoenix also took six corner kicks compared to only two by the Bulldogs. Elon goalie Sydney Little stopped five shots in the contest and Citadel keeper Whitney Nave managed to keep seven Phoenix attempts out of the net.
Western Carolina 2, Furman 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Shanna Schmoker and Rachael Shomper each netted a goal in the opening 23 minutes to lead Western Carolina past Furman 2-0 in Southern Conference women's soccer action on Friday night at Stone Soccer Stadium.
Schmoker put the Catamounts on top at the 8:21 mark. Nikki Collins shot was saved by Furman goalkeeper Jessica Smith, but the rebound bounced into the path of Schmoker who fired into an empty net for her second goal of the season. Shomper doubled the lead in the 23rd minute as Jenny Matteson's ball into the box was deflected into Shomper's path. She curled a shot just inside the right post for her fourth goal of the campaign at 22:44.
Furman created several first half chances, but the Paladins were unable to capitalize. Sara El-Shami bent a long ball onto the foot of Martha Hall as she raced behind the Catamount defense, but her first touch was too strong allowing Western Carolina keeper Caitlin Williams to pounce on the ball. Katya Gokhman nearly pulled back a goal with a first half free kick on frame, but Williams once again answered the challenge tipping the long range effort off of the cross bar.
Williams totaled four saves to earn the shutout for the Catamounts. Smith stopped five shots in the loss for Furman. Western Carolina held a 12-11 edge in shots and 7-4 advantage in shots on goal.
The Catamounts travel to Wofford on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Furman will host Appalachian State on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Davidson 4, Chattanooga 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Davidson's Kyri Bye-Nagel netted a hat-trick to lead the Wildcats to a 4-2 win over Chattanooga in Southern Conference women's soccer action Friday night at the North River Soccer Complex.
Davidson improves to 9-9-0 overall and 6-3 in league action while the Lady Mocs drop below .500 for the first time this season with an overall mark of 6-7-1 and 1-7-1 in conference play.
Chattanooga missed an early scoring opportunity with an open net. Sophomore Donna-Kay Henry went down the side and then cut in to the goal and just missed the shot. Bye-Nagel, however, would get the Wildcats on the board early.
Courtney Hart sent a pass to Bye-Nagel in front of the goal and she slipped it past UTC keeper Taylor Davidson at the 3:06 mark. The Lady Mocs would knot it up on freshman Becca Smith's 11th goal of the season in the 10th minute on a pass from Henry.
Henry would put the Lady Mocs on top at th 36:01 mark of the game on an unassisted goal as she weaved through the defense and launched her eighth goal of the season to the back of the net.
That lead would be short-lived. Five minutes later Bye-Nagel would tie it up taking a cross from Callan Elswick in the 42nd minute and the teams would head into the break in a 2-2 tie.
The second half would see the Wildcats climb on top and keep the lead, outshooting Chattanooga 13-3 in the period.
Bye-Nagel recorded her first hat-trick this season scoring the game-winner with 56:18 gone in the game on a pass from Courtney Hart. Davidson tacked on a penalty kick seconds later following a foul in the box to go up 4-2.
UTC keeper Davidson recorded a season-high eight saves while the Wildcat's keepers Loring Ward and Jesse Baxa split time in the net grabbing a combined three saves.
Smith had four shots in the game and Henry had two as Davidson outshot Chattanooga 23-9. The Wildcats also had a 6-4 corner kick advantage.
Samford 5, Georgia Southern 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Three goals in the first 23 minutes lifted the Samford Bulldogs to a 5-0 win over Georgia Southern Friday night. Junior forward Leah Leppert led the Samford attack, recording two goals and an assist in the win.
Amber Cress opened the scoring in the seventh minute off a pass from Sarah Wilkinson. Cress's shot found the top left corner of the goal, beating GSU's Missy Meyer, to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead. Natalie Flemming scored in the 15th minute to push Samford's lead to 2-0
Leppert's first goal came in the 23rd minute off a pass from Cress. Her second goal came in the 42nd minute. After Meyer made a diving save off Lauren Cook, Leppert knocked in the rebound to give the Bulldogs a 4-0 advantage at halftime. The junior then picked up an assist on Hillary Samuels' goal in the second half. Leppert sent a pass that Samuels headed into the lower right corner of the net.
Meyer finished the game with nine saves. Samford's Alyssa Whitehead made four saves in the win.
Candace Marshall and Holly Dyer each recorded two shots for the Eagles.
Samford outshot the Eagles, 21-7. The Bulldogs recorded four corner kicks, versus one for Georgia Southern.
The Bulldogs improved to 11-1-3 (6-1-2 SoCon) on the season while Georgia Southern fell to 1-15 (1-8 SoCon).