Furman 2, Western Carolina 1
Greenville, S.C. -- The Furman women's soccer team netted a pair of second half goals to rally past Western Carolina, 2-1, and remain unbeaten in Southern Conference play on Sunday afternoon at Stone Soccer Stadium.
The win boosted Furman's record to 7-3-2 overall and 2-0-2 in SoCon play while Western Carolina slipped to 3-7-2 overall and 0-3-1 in the league.
With the match knotted at 1-1 in the 59th minute, Casey McKeon delivered a long throw in that Rachel Shelnutt headed into the path of Martha Hall. The junior chipped the bouncing ball over the shoulder of the charging Catamount keeper and into the right side of the net for her team-leading eighth goal at the 58:52 mark.
Western Carolina took a 1-0 lead just before halftime on Erin Hamilton's second tally of the season. Laura Greb played a long pass straight down the middle of the field and Hamilton raced between two defenders to collect and shoot past Paladin keeper Jessica Smith to the left side at 43:16.
Alexa Jones scored the equalizer for Furman, her second goal of the season, less than five minutes after the restart. The junior dribbled past the Catamount defense down the right channel and lined a shot off of keeper Caitlin Williams' hands that trickled into the left corner at the 49:12.
Furman compiled a commanding 25-9 edge in shot attempts, including an 8-4 edge in shots on goal and 16-5 advantage in second half attempts.
Smith, who has surrendered one goal or fewer in 11 consecutive matches, earned the victory in goal while totaling three saves. Williams stopped six shots for Western Carolina.
Furman concludes its three-match SoCon homestand on Thursday night when it hosts the Chattanooga Mocs at Stone Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Georgia Southern 2, Elon 1
ELON, N.C. - Despite tying a season-high with 19 shots, the Elon University women's soccer team fell in Southern Conference action at Rudd Field on Sunday afternoon, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Georgia Southern Eagles.
Elon drops to 7-4-1 overall and 2-2 in SoCon play with the loss, while the Eagles improve to 5-6-0 (2-2 SoCon) with the win.
The Phoenix offense exploded for 19 shots in the loss, tying its season-high from earlier this season when it blasted the same number against Liberty on Sept. 12.
Senior Brittany Hallberg scored Elon's only goal in the contest, as her strike in the middle of the box following a shot off the post by freshman Kendall Stanley knotted the game at 1-1. Hallberg leads the Phoenix with five goals this season.
The Elon offense attacked the GSU defense with a barrage of shots in the opening frame, as the Phoenix registered 12 shots to the Eagles' two in the first 45 minutes.
GSU came out of the locker room to take a 2-1 advantage in the 60th minute, as a strike from Morgan Springer from 12-yards away landed in the back left corner of the goal past Elon keeper Kristen Haney. Haney finished the contest with two saves.
Elon had a chance to tie the game in the 88th minute with an Alanna Winsper free kick from 13-yards out, but GSU keeper Katie Merson made a diving save to hold off the Phoenix. Merson registered a game-high seven saves.
Amanda Murphy netted GSU's other goal, as her shot from 15-yards away landed in the top right corner of the goal to make it a 1-0 game in the eighth minute.
Elon landed eight shots on-goal of its 19 in the loss, while the Eagles took four shots, all on goal.
Elon is back in action on Friday, Oct. 8, when it hosts College of Charleston at 7 p.m. at Rudd Field.
#25 UNCG 4, Davidson 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Reigning Southern Conference Co-Player of the Year Tabitha Padgett played like it Sunday, notching her first career hat trick to lead No. 25 UNCG to a 4-0 win over Davidson in SoCon women's soccer action.
With its sixth straight win, UNCG improved to 9-1-1 overall on the season, good for the best start in school history. The Spartans, who are 4-0-0 in the league, are tied for 25th in this week's Soccer America poll.
Defending SoCon tournament champion Davidson fell to 4-6-2, 0-2-2 in the SoCon.
Padgett, who was also the SoCon Freshman of the Year last season, scored her fourth goal of the season in the 29th minute, getting a pass from Lauren Hein at the top of the 18-yard box and burying it lower right for what would prove to be the game-winning goal. Stine Schoening also picked up an assist on the play.
Sophomore Jessi Gulledge made it 2-0 in the 57th minute, getting a pass from Padgett at the top of the box and tucking into the lower left corner for her third goal of the season.
Padgett added an insurance goal in the 83rd minute, taking a pass from Cat Barnekow just over the midfield line and winning a footrace with a Davidson defender to the goal to make it 3-0.
The sophomore from Orange Park, Fla., finished off the hat trick less than a minute and a half later, receiving a Kristen Schmidbauer pass near the top of the box and finishing top shelf for the final margin. Nicole Danford also earned an assist, getting the play started in the defense.
Padgett's hat trick came exactly two years to the day since UNCG's last one. Katelynn Donovan was the last Spartan to score three goals in a game, doing it against The Citadel on Oct. 3, 2008.
UNCG outshot Davidson 15-4 on the day, with only two of the Wildcats' shots being on frame. Davidson didn't put a shot on goal until the 79th minute, when Julie Calhoun forced keeper Kelsey Kearney to make her first save of the afternoon. Rachael Newmister forced another save in the 85th minute, with Kearney punching the ball over the crossbar.
Kearney's shutout was her fifth of the season and 24th of her career, putting her one shy of the school record held by Jennifer Stillman. Stillman had 25 from 2002-05.
Jessi Baxa made seven saves for the Wildcats.
"We're figuring out ways to get better," UNCG coach Eddie Radwanski said. "We're hungry. Obviously, we have a lot of respect for Davidson, so we were ready to go for this game and the girls wanted to make a statement. I think they did that with their performance. It's not easy to play Davidson."
The UNCG win snapped Davidson's two-match winning streak in the series, giving the Spartans a measure of revenge for a pair of losses to the Wildcats last season. Davidson stopped UNCG's 33-match unbeaten streak against SoCon opponents in regular-season play on Oct. 2, 2009, then knocked off the top-seeded Spartans in the semifinals of the SoCon Championship on Nov. 6.
The Spartans return to action on Friday, Oct. 8, when they host The Citadel at 7 p.m.
College of Charleston 2, Chattanooga 1 (2 OT)
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston escaped with a 2-1, double-overtime victory over Chattanooga on Sunday afternoon in Southern Conference women's soccer action.
The Cougars jumped on the Lady Mocs early with a second-minute goal but fell silent until finally netting the game winner in the 107th minute.
The Cougars improve to 6-6-0 (3-1-0 SoCon) while Chattanooga falls to 3-9-0 (1-3-0 SoCon).
CofC looked to control the game more than the score line may indicate and created various chances throughout the match.
The Cougars managed 31 shots in the contest and UTC keeper Taylor Mangrum was called upon to make 18 saves in her effort to hold off the Cougars' onslaught.
The Cougars produced a quality moment in the opening seconds of the game when Hannah Gmerek (Anderson, S.C.) sent a cross into the box where Maryam Buazza (Katy, Texas) got a head on it and the ball bounced along the goal line before being cradled by Mangrum 1:05 into the game.
Moments later, on Mangrums' clearing attempt, Sloane Levin (Hamburg, Mich.) intercepted the ball and made a strong run back into the box, maintaining possession between two chipping defenders before beating the keeper to the upper left.
The Cougars attacked aggressively for the entire first half and kept the Mocs pinned in their defensive third. The Cougars couldn't insure the lead, however, and took the 1-0 lead into the dressing room at half time. The Cougars had a 14-3 shot advantage in the opening period.
Five minutes into the second half, Donna-Kay Henry released on a breakaway with pace as the Mocs broke out of the zone on a counter attack. Henry used her speed to get past the up-pushing defenders and rolled the ball past a charging Katie Tate (Piedmont, S.C.) for the equalizer.
The 1-1 score held for the remainder of regulation and through the first 10-minute overtime period. 6:33 into the second overtime, the Cougars finally sealed the game winner. Gmerek sent a ball into the box where Kelly Geutreaux (Mandeville, La.) got a quality look but was denied by Mangrum. Unfortunately for Mangrum, the rebound found Buazza's boot and the sophomore midfielder tucked it into the back of the net.
Levin's and Buazza's goals were both their fifth of the season, tying them for the team high with Sarah Schaidle (Simpsonville, S.C.).
The Cougars will return to the road to face Elon on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.
Wofford 0, Appalachian State 0 (2 OT)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The women's soccer team took on their second conference opponent of the weekend, drawing even with Appalachian State, 0-0, Sunday afternoon. The match had opportunities to put results on the board, but the crossbar saved a few shots for both teams. The tie puts the Terriers at a 5-3-3 record on the season, with a 0-1-3 standing in the Southern Conference. Appalachian State grabs a 3-5-3 record for the year and a 0-2-2 standing in the Southern Conference.
Wofford's defense has fortified the backfield, not allowing the opposition to score in the past two games. The defense held Appalachian to a blank score, and also only gave the Mountaineers three shots on goal. Freshman Kimberly Cohn made the start at goalkeeper, and had three saves throughout the afternoon.
Sydney Reed led the team in shots with four, while Nikki Siebert grabbed the top spot with shots on goal, having two.
Reed had one of the best chances to put the game away in the second half, having a header attempt glance of the high crossbar in the 72nd minute of the match.
Minutes later, Appalachian State countered with a couple of shots mirroring the same result in the 77th minute. Two shots by the Mountaineers hit the posts, keeping the score even at zero. ASU's Katy Dodd and Michelle Jewell accounted for the attempts.
Chelsea Ashworth nearly ended the match in the 3rd minute of the first overtime period, taking a pass from Siebert on the run, pushing past the Mountaineer defense and creating a one-on-one chance against ASU's Jordan Hatton. Ashworth took a few dribbles farther inside the 18' box, lined up and fired a shot toward the goal. The ball was driven low and hard toward the left side post, but it sailed just wide of the net.
With the match closing to an end, Nikki Siebert put one final attempt toward the ASU goal with only ten seconds remaining in the game. The powerful shot from outside the box, pushed a few inches high of the cross bar as time trickled out.
The end result after regulation and two overtimes was 0-0.
Coach Kiah's team tallied 15 total shots, with four being on frame. Reed (4), Siebert (3), and Maggie McLaughlin (3) accounted for ten of the shots.
The Terriers continue conference play at home, taking on Samford Thursday, October 7th at 6:00 p.m.
Samford 7, The Citadel 0
Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel Soccer suffered a 7-0 loss to Southern Conference foe Samford on Sunday afternoon snapping The Citadel's five match win streak. The Cadets fall to 7-4-1 and 3-1 in league competition, while Samford moves to 6-5-1 and 2-2 in the SoCon.
Samford opened the match with quick feet as the team took the first five shots of the match. At the 10:55 mark, with her back to the goal, Samford's Sara Wilkinson grabbed a loose ball, shook off her defender and took a shot from 20 feet away. The ball stretched the length at hit the bottom left side of the net giving Samford an early 1-0 lead. In attempt to tie the match, The Citadel freshmen Vanessa Aponte and Nicole Levermann each took a shot 10 seconds apart but both kicks were blocked by Samford. At the 40:08 mark, Aponte made the last attempt of the half for the tie as she dribbled to the top of the box and took aimed at the right corner of the net, but her shot just missed as it went wide right.
Samford took control of the second half outshooting The Citadel 12-3 and tacked on six additional goals. At the 57:40 mark, Lauren Cook took a shot from the top of the box and scored giving Samford a 2-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Samford added a third goal in a 2-on-1 breakway. Remaining on offensive, Leppert grabbed a loose ball and from midfield took it all the way and sent it into the net at the 61st minute. With The Citadel down a player, Samford converted a penalty kick for the game's fifth goal, followed by Hilary Samuels on a breakaway. Samford's decisive goal came at the 75:47 mark when Taule's header went in on a pass from Hailey Shelpuk.
Samford finished the match with 17 shots, 13 on goal, while The Citadel managed 10 shots, four on goal. In total, six different players scored for Samford. Taule finished the match with two goals scored and led Samford's offense with four shots, on goal. Aponte and Levermann led the Cadets with three shots each.
"Samford was very specific in their soccer today and got a very specific and dominating result," said head coach Bob Winch. "Their finishing on goal was clinical."
Coming up next, The Citadel will face league opponent UNC Greensboro for a 7 p.m. match in Greensboro, N.C.