#19 UNCG 2, Western Carolina 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - No. 19 UNCG used a pair of first-half goals and a dominant defensive effort to clinch at least a share of its fifth straight Southern Conference regular-season crown and lock up the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SoCon Championship with a 2-0 win over Western Carolina on Thursday.
The victory also sent out the Spartan seniors in style. Prior to the game, UNCG honored seniors Katie Evans, Jenn Partenheimer, Jen Rincon and student assistant coach Barrie Vogel, who spent the first three years of her collegiate tenure as a goalkeeper for the Spartans before injuries cut her career short.
With its 11th straight win, UNCG improved to 14-1-1 on the season and 9-0-0 in the SoCon. Western Carolina fell to 5-9-3 overall and 2-5-2 in the league. The Spartans' current winning streak is one shy of the school record set in 2007.
Junior Cat Barnekow scored her fourth goal of the season in the 18th minute, collecting a ball in the midfield and blowing past a couple of Western defenders before depositing the ball into the lower left corner of the goal to put UNCG ahead 1-0.
Sophomore Tabitha Padgett made it a two-goal game just before halftime, notching her 10th goal of the season at the 44:13 mark. Freshman Stine Schoening lofted a ball in from the right wing that Padgett nodded on from inside the 6-yard box.
That was all the offense UNCG's defense would need. The starting unit of keeper Kelsey Kearney and defenders Evans, Schoening, Morgan Kennedy and Stephanie Partenheimer, as well as defensive reserves Nicole Danford, Casey Godwin and Lauren Lover, limited the Catamounts to just one shot and no corner kicks on the evening.
Western's lone attempt came just after halftime, as Christine Kaznowski got off a shot that Kearney easily wrapped up.
UNCG outshot the Catamounts 18-1 on the evening, with Jenn Partenheimer and Jaimey Etten leading the way with four each.
The Spartans had plenty of chances to add to their lead, but couldn't put another one away. Late in the first half, Barnekow put a cross into the box that an unmarked Padgett just couldn't get a body on. Kristen Schmidbauer seemed poised to score her seventh goal of the season in the opening period, but her looping line drive just clanked off the cross bar and Lauren Hein's follow attempt went wide.
The second half saw another near goal for Padgett, as a pass found her feet just a touch behind her in the 6-yard box. Etten also came tantalizingly close, but WCU keeper Caitlin Williams was just able to tip her direct free kick from about 25 yards out over the crossbar.
Kearney finished with one save for her eighth shutout of the season, extending her UNCG career record to 27 and pulling her into a tie for third place in SoCon history. She now trails only Williams, who has 28 for her career, and SoCon record-holder Andie Hinshaw, who had 36 for Furman from 2002-05.
Williams made six saves on the evening.
The win improved UNCG's senior class to 59-17-5 in its career, just two wins shy of matching the school record for wins over a four-year span. This year's senior class also improved its school-record winning percentage to .759.
With one more win, or losses by The Citadel and Samford on Friday, the Spartans would lock up the regular-season SoCon title outright. Both sets of Bulldogs enter play Friday with 6-2-0 ledgers in league play, meaning either or both could still pull into a tie with UNCG should they win out and UNCG loses its remaining two games. The Spartans beat both teams, however, giving UNCG the top seed in the SoCon tournament regardless of whether there is a tie at the top of the standings.
Thursday's win also moves UNCG's home record to 8-0-0, giving the Spartans a chance at the first perfect home slate in school history when they host an as-yet-undetermined opponent in the first round of the tournament on Oct. 31.
The Spartans return to action on Sunday at Appalachian State. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. in Boone, N.C.
Elon 1, Appalachian State 0 (OT)
ELON, N.C. - Simi Dhaliwal's second goal of the season in the 98th minute of overtime lifted the Elon University women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Thursday night at Rudd Field.
After coming off the bench for the first time mid-way through overtime, Dhaliwal received a picture-perfect pass on a run by freshman Chelsey Stark. Following an outstanding save near the top of the box by ASU keeper Caroline Clarke to block Dhaliwal's first strike, the ball trickled its way again to Dhaliwal, who blasted the game-winner in the back of the net for the walk-off shot.
Elon improves to 10-6-1 overall and 5-4 in Southern Conference play, while the Mountaineers drop to 5-7-4 (2-4-3 SoCon) with the loss.
"It was another one of those games where we controlled the possession for the majority of the game," said Elon head women's soccer coach Chris Neal. "We took 12 shots and limited them to one and we controlled the corner. But what that tells us is that we need to get better at the quality of service in our area and make better decisions."
Elon registered 10 corner kicks in the win and held ASU to none.
Despite the scoreless first 45 minutes, the Phoenix dominated possession of the match, claiming five corner kicks and holding the Mountaineers to no corners and one shot.
Elon had its best opportunity to score the match's first goal in the 72nd minute, but Lindsey Nusdeo's header off an Olivia Mackey corner fell into the hands of a diving Caroline Clarke to keep it scoreless. Elon had a similar opportunity in the 86th minute off a Scarlett Fakhar header, but Clarke again made the save.
But Dhaliwal's one-timer in the 98th broke any chance of the contest ending in a tie, as Elon improved its standing in the SoCon with two matches remaining in league play.
Elon is back in action on Sunday, Oct. 24, when the Phoenix takes on Western Carolina in Cullowhee, N.C. at 2 p.m.