College of Charleston 1, Samford 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The Samford University soccer team had its six-match winning streak snapped Sunday in a hard-fought 1-0 road loss against the College of Charleston Cougars. The Southern Conference showdown was held at Patriot's Point.
In the defeat, Samford (6-1-1, 1-1 SoCon) allowed a goal for the first time this season. Prior to Sunday's match, the Bulldogs compiled a school-record mark of 705-consecutive minutes of shutout soccer.
With its victory, the College of Charleston (6-3-1, 2-0 SoCon) extended its winning streak to four-consecutive matches. The Cougars last defeat was a 3-0 setback against Virginia Tech on Sept. 13.
The College of Charleston's Alyssa Bearden scored the game-winning goal during the 55th minute of play. The game-winner proved to be her second of the weekend. On Friday, Bearden also tallied the Cougars' golden goal in a similar 1-0 victory against Chattanooga.
On Sunday's game-winning goal, Bearden tallied the unassisted score at exactly 54:55. The Cougars' true freshman from Cary, N.C., took the shot from the top of the box from 15 yards out. The goal was Bearden's third of the season.
Samford's Alyssa Whitehead tied her career-high with nine saves Sunday, all of which occurred in the first half. The College of Charleston outshot Samford 10-2 in the opening 45 minutes of play, but the shots were tied 4-4 in the final period.
Whitehead's shutout streak was snapped at seven matches and she allowed her first goal of the season in 730 minutes. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-3 sophomore from Hattiesburg, Miss., has faced 76 shots this year and owns a near-perfect 0.12 goals-against average.
Samford's Amber Cress paced the team's offensive attack Sunday with two shot attempts and one shot on goal. The Bulldogs' Kelly Shaffer, Leah Leppert, Sarah Wilkinson and Paige Lanter also rattled off shot attempts.
The College of Charleston earned its first win against Samford. The two-year-old all-time series is now deadlocked at 1-1-1.
The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Friday at 7 p.m., as the Bulldogs play host to the Western Carolina Catamounts in another key SoCon matchup. The contest will be held at Samford's Bulldog Field.
The Citadel 1, Chattanooga 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- Just two days after dropping its first match of the season, the Lady Mocs soccer team fell 1-0 to The Citadel in league action and fall to 5-2 overall and 0-2 against Southern Conference opponents. The Bulldogs move to 4-6-0 overall and even their conference mark to 1-1.
Despite outshooting the Bulldogs 24-10, only five UT shots were on goal. Freshman Becca Smith pounded the Citadel defense getting off a personal best nine shots with two on goal. Donna-Kay Henry got off four shots while freshman Anna Cusick and Hayley Sloan each got off a pair of shots.
The lone goal of the game came late off the foot of the Citadel's Nicole Martinoli who leads the Bulldogs with six goals this year. With 82:50 gone in the game, Martinoli took a pass from Dianna Martin and sent a shot to the far corner past UTC keeper freshman Taylor Davidson who had three saves in the game.
The Citadel's keeper Whitney Nave had five saves in the game and recorded her first shutout improving to 2-6. Martinoli and Nikki Mares each led the Bulldogs with three shots apiece and Amy Loughran had two shots with both on goal.
This is Chattanooga's first loss to the Bulldogs in nine games and just the Lady Mocs second loss of the year after starting the season 5-0 with four shutouts.
UNC Greensboro 3, Wofford 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Freshman Tabitha Padgett scored for the third game in a row and seniors Lauren Lopez and Heather Mitrisin added goals of their own as UNC Greensboro downed Wofford on Sunday, 3-0, to cap Homecoming weekend.
The Spartans (6-4, 2-0 Southern Conference) got on the board early, with Padgett heading home a ball in the 11th minute for what would prove to be her third game-winner of the season. Cat Barnekow got the play started in the midfield, sending a ball to Katie Evans on the left side. Evans lofted a nice pass into the 18-yard box, and Padgett nodded the ball over keeper Erika Christensen from about 12 yards out.
Lopez made it a 2-0 game in the 19th minute with an unassisted goal. After a Wofford foul outside the box, Lopez sent the direct kick into the upper right corner from about 25 yards out for her first goal of the season.
That's where the score would stand until the second half. Wofford (1-9, 0-2 SoCon) didn't get off a shot in the first half, as UNCG held a 7-0 shot advantage at the break.
The Terriers came out with renewed intensity after intermission, turning up their defensive pressure. UNCG was finally able to crack the defense in the 63rd minute, however, as Mitrisin one-timed a Kristin Player cross in to Christensen, then collided with the keeper. After a brief consultation, the officials ruled that Christensen had crossed the line with the ball, giving the Spartans their third goal of the day.
Freshman Lauren Hein also picked up an assist on the play.
Wofford got its first shot off just after halftime, as Monica Ploetzke took a free kick just outside the UNCG box and sent it high.
With the game all but decided and the final seconds ticking down, the Terriers nearly broke up the shutout. With less than 20 seconds left in the game, Ploetzke one-timed a Wofford cross, sending in a strike that bounced off the crossbar and back into play. Ploetzke pounced on the rebound, but her second attempt was well high.
Kearney picked up her fourth shutout of the season and second in a row, making one save.
Christensen allowed three goals and made four stops.
With the win, UNCG's regular-season SoCon unbeaten streak moved to 33 matches - the Spartans are 31-0-2 in league regular-season play since dropping the final regular-season match of the 2005 season.
Elon 2, Furman 1 (2OT)
ELON, N.C. -- Elon forward Molly Calpin netted the game-winning goal in the final seconds of overtime to give the Elon women's soccer team a thrilling 2-1 victory over the visiting Furman Paladins in double-overtime at Rudd Field in Sunday afternoon Southern Conference action. The win was Elon's first ever over the Paladins (6-3-0, 0-2-0). The Phoenix improved to 6-2-1, 2-0-0, the best start by an Elon team since the 1996 season and the first time the program has opened SoCon play with a 2-0 mark.
As the final seconds ticked down, Alanna Winsper served a long ball toward the Elon offensive third. Calpin battled with a Furman defender to win the serve. With the ball at her feet, Calpin saw Paladin goalie Jessica Smith come off her line and sent a chip shot over the keeper's head with 17 seconds showing on the clock to give Elon the victory.
"I'm really still in shock at the moment," commented Calpin after the game. "Our entire team just worked so hard for this entire game and it paid off at the end."
The strike was Calpin's third of the season and 15th of her career.
In the first half, Elon came out quickly on the attack. Calpin had a chance to give the Phoenix the advantage in the first minute of play, taking a pass from junior Brittany Hallberg and drilling a shot at the far post. Smith sprawled out to make the diving save.
The Phoenix continued to control play, finding the back of the net at 9:13 to take the early lead. Freshman Elizabeth Palmer notched her fourth assist in as many games, serving a corner kick to the far side of the box. Rookie Scarlett Fakhar got a head on the ball and sent the score into the back of the net for her first career goal.
The remainder of the half was back and forth with neither team able to grab any strong chances on goal.
Furman picked up the pace in the second half, working hard to break down the Elon defense. After several attempts, the Paladins managed to get the equalizer in the 72nd minute of play. Katya Gokhman sent a corner kick in the goal box. Claire Hodge headed it into the middle of the net to knot the score at one apiece.
Both teams had chances in the final period but the back lines held strong as the game was forced into extra minutes. Elon has played three overtime games this season and have earned two wins and a tie in those contests.
For the game, Furman held a slim 11-10 advantage in the shot column. The Paladins took five corner kicks compared to three by the Phoenix. Elon netminder Sydney Little grabbed four saves in the effort while Smith recorded two stops.
Western Carolina 1, Georgia Southern 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Rachael Shomper's game winner in the second half helped seal a 1-0 Western Carolina victory over Southern Conference foe Georgia Southern on Sunday afternoon in front of 671 fans at the Catamount Athletic Complex.
The Catamounts increased their shutout streak to a season-high 387 minutes, as goalkeeper Caitlin Williams inked her sixth shutout of the season. The scoreless contest gave Williams her 20th career shutout, allowing the junior to surpass Alesha Row (2003-2006) as the WCU all-time leader in the shutouts category.
Shomper scored her team-high third goal of the season after a flurry of Western Carolina shots. Senior Shannon Fowkes led the attack with a breakaway, escaping past the Georgia Southern defense.
Fowkes's shot was deflected by the Eagles goalkeeper Lauren Santos, but the ball was corralled by Bri Cunnigham near the penalty kick line. Cunningham fired another shot that was once again deflected by Santos. Shomper picked up the rebound and scored in the far post to give the Catamounts the game winner at the 77th minute.
The goal for Shomper tied her single-season career high of three, which was set last season. The goal was Shomper's 10th of her career and her sixth career game-winner. The winning tally moved the senior to number six all-time in game winning goals.
Fowkes led the Catamounts with three shots, followed by defender Jenny Matteson with two.
Western Carolina dominated the shot totals in the second half out manning the Eagles 11-4 for the contest. The Catamounts also gained advantage in the corner kick column, including four in the second period, for a total of 5 corners to GSU's 3.
Sunday's victory extended Western Carolina's unbeaten streak at the friendly confines of the Catamount Athletic Complex to seven games.
Appalachian State 2, Davidson 0
BOONE, N.C. - Hoping to close out a season-long five-game road trip with a win, Appalachian State spoiled those ideas for Davidson by taking a 2-0 league win over the Wildcats in women's soccer on Sunday evening at the Appalachian Soccer Complex.
Davidson fell to 3-8-0 and 0-2-0 in Southern Conference action. The Wildcats have had some hard luck as of late, dropping two 3-2 contests at Richmond and Virginia Tech last weekend and now back-to-back 2-0 games. ASU ran its record to 5-4-1 and finished its weekend opening league play at 2-0-0.
Davidson found itself down early after both teams traded taking shots on goal as ASU was able to capitalize on a corner kick at the 26:58 mark.
Sydney Hill sent a ball to the far post where Paige Morrow headed it in to the top-left corner for the first score of the game.
The scored would remain 1-0 in favor of ASU as the Wildcats continued to try and knot things up through the remainder of the first half and into the start of the second half. Most of the 'Cats shots though were from long distance as the Mountaineers cleared away any attempts Davidson made when it did work the ball into the box.
For the game, Davidson outshot ASU, 18-7, placing nine of them on goal. Leading the way was Blakely Low with six shots, three of them on goal, while Kyri Bye-Nagel and Allison Drutchas each tallied three shots.
ASU added one more score in the 69th minute, again another header with Hannah Coad connecting off a free ball kick by Lindsay Jaffe for the final score of 2-0.
Caroline Clarke of the Mountaineers was credited with the shutout win as she finished with nine saves. Loring Ward made her sixth start in goal for the Wildcats and came up with three saves to push her season total to 23.