Auburn 0, Samford 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- In front of a school-record crowd of 1,264 fans at Bulldog Field, the Samford University soccer team earned a 0-0 draw against the 25th-ranked Auburn Tigers in Sunday's 2009 season opener.
"Auburn is the 25th-ranked team in the country and that's where we want to get to," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "We strive towards being a nationally-ranked team and I think this result tonight speaks volumes towards where this program is heading."
Samford's school-record crowd of 1,264 fans surpassed its previous total of 1,054, which was also set against Auburn on Sept. 2, 2004. Sunday's standing-room-only crowd spilled out of the stands and wrapped all the way around the fence on the southeast and eastern portions of Bulldog Field.
Samford's Alyssa Whitehead finished the match with nine saves and tied her career-high with the total. Last year, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-3 native of Hattiesburg, Miss., also recorded nine saves in a season-opening contest against the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns.
In Sunday's defensive struggle, Samford only allowed 17 shots, nine of which were on goal. The Bulldogs finished the scoreless tie with five shot attempts, two of which were on goal.
Samford's Sarah Wilkinson and Adrianne Mancino both registered the Bulldogs' best scoring opportunities Sunday. Wilkinson's shot on goal occurred late in the first half of play, while Mancino's scoring attempt was midway through the second half and was Samford's best chance of the match.
On the attempt, a crossing pass was sent towards the right corner of the box where Mancino headed it back to the left portion of the net. On the shot, Auburn's goalkeeper Amy Howard made a lunging save to her right to maintain the 0-0 tie.
Sunday's contest was Samford's first time in school history to keep Auburn scoreless.
Sunday's heated match proved to be a very physical contest with both teams losing a player to a red card throughout the game. Auburn's Julie King was ejected at the 44:05 mark in the first half of play, while Samford's Caroline Baxter was issued a red card during the first overtime period.
The Bulldogs were whistled for 17 fouls, while the Tigers finished with 12.
The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Friday at 7 p.m., as the Bulldogs remain at home for another in-state matchup against the Alabama Crimson Tide. The matchup will be the first time in Samford school history that the Bulldogs will host the Crimson Tide.
Wake Forest 2, UNC Greensboro 1
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Wake Forest’s Kaley Fountain scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal in the 58th minute as the Demon Deacons held on to down UNC Greensboro in the Spartans’ season-opener, 2-1 on Sunday night at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
The loss snapped a 14-match unbeaten streak for UNCG (0-1) dating back to last season. Wake Forest improved to 2-0 on the young season.
With the match tied at 1 in the second half, Fountain took a short pass from senior Jill Hutchinson at the top of the 18-yard box and pounded it into the lower right corner to put the Deacs ahead for the first time on the evening.
Junior Jenn Partenheimer, who scored UNCG’s lone goal on the evening, appeared to have her second tally of the evening with just under 17 minutes remaining, but the tying goal was waved off. Partenheimer deposited a free kick from about 20 yards out into the upper right 90 – much to the delight of the majority of the 865 fans in attendance – but the goal was disallowed because no one else touched the indirect kick.
UNCG had jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the contest, with Partenheimer collecting a loose ball at the top of the 18 and slotting a shot lower left past Wake Forest keeper Laura Morse in the sixth minute.
Senior Lauren Lopez nearly made it a 2-0 score in the seventh minute, but her shot from inside 10 yards was blocked.
The Spartans made the lead stand for most of the first half, but the Demon Deacons found the equalizer just before halftime. Freshman Ally Berry sent a ball into the box from the right side that found the foot of Hutchinson, who took a few touches and put a shot past UNCG keeper Kelsey Kearney from about 6 yards out in the 43rd minute.
Hutchinson’s score came just moments after her wide-open shot inside the box smacked off the right post.
Despite trailing for most of the first stanza, Wake Forest held a 10-5 shot advantage at the half.
The Deacs had a solid chance to make it a 3-1 affair late in the game, but Kearney came up with a phenomenal save to keep the game within reach for the Spartans. After an Allie Sadow takeaway at the top of the Spartans’ box. Kearney made an outstanding kick save on Sadow’s close-range, one-on-one shot in the 89th minute.
Wake Forest finished with a 19-7 shot advantage, and took seven corner kicks to just three for the Spartans.
Morse picked up the win in the net for the Deacons, making two saves and allowing a goal in 90 minutes of work. Kearney took the loss despite a solid effort, making five stops and allowing two goals.
The Spartans are back in action at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, when they will face No. 16 Duke at the Carolina Nike Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C. UNCG will then take on No. 1 North Carolina two days later, completing a run of three straight Atlantic Coast Conference schools to open the season.
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