Elon 2, College of Charleston 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The Elon women's soccer team turned in a dominating performance and handed the College of Charleston its second consecutive Southern Conference loss, shutting out the Cougars, 2-0, at Patriot's Point Soccer Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The win was Elon's first against CofC since the 2000 season and kept the Phoenix in the hunt for one of only four bids to the SoCon Tournament. Elon improved to 12-4-2 overall and 7-2-1 in conference action. College of Charleston, who came into the weekend as the top team in the SoCon, dropped to 11-6-1 on the season and 7-3-0 against league opponents.
The Elon back line, led by keeper Sydney Little, secured the squad's seventh clean slate of the season. It is the most shutouts by an Elon squad since the 1999 team finished with nine.
Elon dominated play, controlling the pace of the game and not allowing a CofC shot on goal for the entire 90 minutes. Senior Molly Calpin put the Phoenix on the board in the 13th minute, scoring her sixth goal of the season and the ultimate game-winner off an assist from rookie Caroline McKinley. Kyle Waggoner crossed a ball from the left side of the field into the box. McKinley slid a pass to Calpin who finished from about six yards out, giving Elon the 1-0 advantage.
Elon cushioned its lead in the 64th minute as two freshmen combined for a Phoenix score. In an attempted Charleston clearance, Lindsey Nusdeo won the free ball and headed it back into Elon territory. Courtney Seltman made a run at the ball and took advantage of some confusion on the Cougar back line. Seltman touched the ball into the box and sent her first collegiate goal past CofC keeper Sarah Wiggers at the 63:50 mark.
For the game, the Phoenix outshot the Cougars, 8-4, and held a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks.
UNC Greensboro 2, The Citadel 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Freshman Lauren Hein scored both UNC Greensboro goals, including the game-winner in the 83rd minute just 52 seconds after The Citadel had tied it, as the Spartans took a 2-1 Southern Conference win over the Bulldogs on Sunday.
The Citadel's Nicole Martinoli scored on a penalty kick to tie the game at 1 at the 81:13 mark, but Hein countered with an open-net header off a Nicole Danford pass to put UNCG back ahead for good less than a minute later.
The win, coupled with College of Charleston's loss to Elon on Sunday, put the Spartans (12-6, 8-2 SoCon) in sole possession of the top spot in the league standings heading into Thursday's regular-season finale against Elon. With a win over the Phoenix, the Spartans would lock up the top seed in the SoCon tournament and their fourth straight regular-season title.
After a scoreless first half that saw UNCG outshoot The Citadel (5-11-2, 2-6-2 SoCon) 8-4, Hein scored an unassisted goal in the 64th minute to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.
UNCG keeper Kelsey Kearney made three saves in picking up the win, while her counterpart, Whitney Nave, stopped seven shots for The Citadel.
UNCG held a 21-12 shot advantage in the contest, and had six corner kicks to the Bulldogs' three.
Hein led the Spartans with six shots, while classmate Tabitha Padgett took five and junior Jenn Partenheimer had four.
Martinoli and Amy Loughran paced the Bulldogs with four shots each.
The Spartans played spoiler on The Citadel's Senior Day, as the Bulldogs honored Kristine Devine, Nikki Mares and Dianna Martin on Sunday.
UNCG remained undefeated against the Bulldogs, but the one-goal margin was the closest ever in the nine-match series history between the two squads, surpassing a 2-0 UNCG win in 2002. The Citadel's goal was its first against the Spartans since 2005.
Western Carolina 1, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Wofford women's soccer fell 1-0 to Western Carolina Sunday afternoon at Snyder Field in their tenth Southern Conference match and final home game of the 2009 season.
The Terriers move to 3-13-2 overall and 2-6-2 in SoCon while Western Carolina advances to 7-6-5 overall and 4-3-3 in SoCon.
In the first half, the Catamounts had the first strong chances at the ten minute mark with two corner kicks and shots that were wide and saved. After fifteen minutes of play without a shot, the Catamounts added two more shots before Monica Ploetzke put a shot on goal for the Terriers that went high at 33:42. In the first half, Western Carolina had a six to two advantage on shots.
To open the second half, Monica Ploetzke had a shot that went high in the first minute of play. Western Carolina had the next five chances, three of which were saved. At the 68 minute mark, the Catamounts got on the board when Kellie Oberholtzer fired a shot from 40 yards out that went into the top left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead. Kayla Beauduy had the assist on the goal. The Terriers kept fighting back and with just 1:45 left in the game a shot by Sydney Reed inside the box went just inches wide of the left goal post.
Wofford goalie Katie McChesney had eight saves and one goal against, while Caitlin Williams had two saves in the shutout victory. Western Carolina had a 16 to eight lead on shots. A yellow card was issued to Shanna Schmoker of Western Carolina.
The game marked the final home game for seniors Erika Bishop, Cassie Rex, Blair Green, Monica Ploetzke and Meredith Calcina, all of whom started the game.
Appalachian State 1, Furman 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Katy Dodd scored her fourth goal of the season on a free kick in the fifth minute and Caroline Clarke recorded a shutout to lead Appalachian State to a 1-0 victory over Furman in Southern Conference women's soccer action Sunday afternoon at Stone Stadium.
Appalachian State improved to 6-8-4 overall and 3-4-3 in the SoCon with its first victory over Furman since October 12, 2001. The Paladins fell to 10-6-0 overall and 4-6 in the league after dropping their third straight contest.
Lindsay Jaffe triggered the set piece from the right side with a quick touch for Dodd who fired through the wall and into the far righthand corner at 4:19 for the eventual winning goal after the Mountaineers had drawn a foul approximately 25 yards from goal.
Furman outshot the Mountaineers 21-7, including a 10-2 edge in second half shots and 6-3 edge in shots on goal for the game, but Clarke tallied six saves to keep the Paladins scoreless for the third straight game. Martha Hall had the best opportunity of the day to get the Paladins on the board in the first half as she found space down the right side and forced a one-versus-one with Clarke, but the sophomore missed wide to the right. Midway through the second half, Alexa Jones dribbled around the Appalachian State defense on the right side only to see her centering pass inside the six-yard box cleared out of danger.
Sarah Caldwell received her first start in goal for Furman and made two saves in the loss.
Chattanooga 1, Appalachian State 0 (OT)
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Despite playing a player down through most of the game, the Lady Mocs were able to grab a 1-0 overtime win over Georgia Southern Sunday afternoon at the North River Complex in Southern Conference women's soccer action.
While neither team could find the net in regulation, the Lady Mocs made a charge downfield midway through the overtime period. Freshman Becca Smith sent a pass to a slashing Donna-Kay Henry who shot the ball past the Georgia Southern keeper Lauren Santos who had two saves in the game.
The win puts the Lady Mocs at .500 with just one game to go. Overall UTC is 7-7-1 and 2-7-1 in league play. Georgia Southern falls to 1-16 overall and 1-9 in SoCon action.
The Eagles best chance of scoring came in the final minutes of regulation. Following a UTC foul, Georgia Southern lifted a shot into the box where it was batted around several times before Chelsea Kephart hit it sharply toward the goal from three yards out. Chattanooga keeper Taylor Davidson dove to her right, recording one of her seven saves on the day.
In a very physical, aggressive game, the Eagles were called for 19 fouls to UTC's nine, however, the Lady Mocs suffered a much larger penalty. Following yellow cards on Henry and Tina Odembo, junior Serena Allen was red-carded in the 43rd minute and the Lady Mocs were forced to field just 10 for the remainder of the game.
Samford 1, Davidson 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University soccer team extended its undefeated streak at home to 24-consecutive matches Sunday as the Bulldogs rallied back to force a key 1-1 draw with the Davidson Wildcats. Davidson's Callan Elswick scored a goal midway through the first half before Natalie Fleming tallied the equalizer in the 75th minute.
With the draw, Samford (11-1-4, 6-1-3 Southern Conference) earned its 21st point in conference play and remained in third place in the conference standings. Following Sunday's action, the Bulldogs sit in a two-way tie for third place along with the College of Charleston. Earlier this season, the College of Charleston handed Samford its only loss of the season 1-0 on Sept. 27.
Davidson (9-9-1, 6-3-1 SoCon) picked up its 19th point of the conference season and remained in fifth place in the standings. The Wildcats will need to defeat last-place Georgia Southern on Saturday in order to have a chance to qualify for the four-team SoCon Tournament.
Samford dictated the play of the match and finished with eight corner kicks as compared to one for Davidson. The Wildcats outshot the Bulldogs 14-12, while Samford was whistled for two more fouls 14-12.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal from Elswick during the 26th minute of play. The score was her second of the 2009 campaign.
To set up the play, Samford was whistled for a foul just outside of the top right corner of the box. Davidson then took advantage of the set-piece by sending a high ball just in front of the net. The ball was kicked around a few times before the Wildcats' Blakely Low fired a shot that was deflected by a Bulldog defender.
After being blocked, the ball then bounced directly to Elswick on the left side of the net. Davidson's junior forward then one-timed a shot low into the right side of the goal.
The score was only the fifth goal allowed by Samford this season. The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 26-5 and entered the match as the nation's best team in both goals-against average and save percentage.
Even as Davidson played keep-away and dropped most of its players into the defensive half of the field, Samford was able to tie the match at 1-1 at the 74:36 mark in the second half.
Fleming, the Bulldogs' senior forward from Evansville, Ind., scored the equalizing goal; it was her third of the 2009 campaign. The score was assisted by Amber Cress and Hilary Samuels. On the play, Cress initiated the attack from the left flank and passed the ball up ahead to Samuels in the box. Samuels gathered the pass, faked a shot and sent it to her left to Fleming.
On Samuels' pass, the ball was nicked by a Davidson defender and bounced chest-high towards Fleming. Fleming quickly adjusted her swing and popped a floating shot that landed just beyond the Wildcats' goalkeeper Jessie Baxa for the score.