Georgia Southern 2, The Citadel 0
Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel women's soccer team (4-9-2, 2-4-1) was unable to bounce back after two first half goals by Georgia Southern (5-7-2, 3-3-1) as they were downed, 2-0, in a Thursday evening conference battle on Washington Light Infantry Field. The loss is the first the Bulldogs have suffered against the Eagles since 2007.
The Citadel had a few opportunities to open up the game with momentum as two corner kicks from freshman Anastasia Mesa resulted in shots, but the Bulldogs were unable to connect.
Georgia Southern was able to maintain possession for the next 10 minutes of play and in the 12th minute, the persistence paid off as Georgia Southern forward Courtney Collins would knock in an open net goal off a cleared pass that was fed to her by teammate Sara Oland to give the Eagles a quick 1-0 lead.
Not even five minutes later Collins and Oland were able to connect again with the same result. Oland cleared a long pass down the middle of the field as Collins split the defenders and side stepped Bulldog goalie Laura Serafino for her second goal of the game.
The Eagles entered the half with a 2-0 lead, despite being outshot nine to six in the first 45 minutes.
The Bulldogs came out firing in the second half, as Hannah Warne and Mariana Garcia landed two quick shots on goal that were scooped up by Eagles keeper Katie Merson.
The sophomore leaders, Vanessa Aponte and Mariana Garcia, fired a combined 14 of the teams' 18 shots in the effort to net a goal and put the Bulldogs back in the game, but to no avail as Merson stymied every shot that came her way.
The Georgia Southern defense finished out the second half and the Bulldogs were downed, 2-0.
The loss leaves The Citadel in 10th place in the conference. The Bulldogs will have to fight their way into the playoffs for the remaining four games against SoCon foes Davidson, Furman, Wofford and crosstown rival College of Charleston.
"We put ourselves in this spot and it will be nothing short of a complete battle in the remaining games to get a playoff spot," said Coach Bob Winch.
The Citadel will now head to Davidson, N.C. to take on the Wildcats on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m.
College of Charleston 3, Davidson 2
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston women's soccer team defeated Davidson by a 3-2 count in the Cougars' final home game of the 2011 season at Patriots Point on Thursday evening. The Cougars jumped out to a two-goal lead but allowed Davidson to come all the way back before ultimately netting the game winner.
"Our team can score goals in bunches which is great," said head coach Christian Michner. "It's fun to have an attacking team but we've got to do a better job of sealing it off in our own end. We're not always going to be able to win games 3-2 or 4-2 down the stretch. The team played great today though. We knew this was a game that could possibly be our last home game if we don't host in the tournament. The seniors were excited about coming out and ensuring we did the work that was necessary.
We knew nothing less than coming out and getting these three points would do so now we're back at the top of the league."
The Cougars looked strong in the first half and claimed the game's first goal in the 19th minute when Sarah Schaidle (Simpsonville, S.C.) sent a ball down the right wing to Alli Brashear (Brunswick, Ga.). Brashear cut towards the center of the field and threaded a pass through a pair of defenders to Hope Atkinson (Rumson, N.J.) who only had the keeper to beat and did so to the right side.
The Cougars pushed their lead to two goals exactly seven minutes of clock time later when McCallie Jones (Charlotte, N.C.) collected a ball that had been rattling around in the box and scored through a crowd off a deflection.
The Cougars took the 2-0 lead into the locker room after outshooting the Wildcats, 9-4, in the opening period.
Davidson stormed back into the match in the second half, however. Four minutes into the period, Becca Fisher slipped Stephanie Piperno a ball in the left side of the box and Piperno squeezed a shot beneath Cougar keeper Cricket Wise to cut the lead in half.
Davidson completed their comeback in the 61st minute when Fisher collected a ball at the top of the box and fired a virtually-perfect shot into the top of the net to equalize the match.
CofC was resilient despite surrendering the lead and pushed back on the offensive to gain a corner immediately after the goal. After the Wildcats temporarily cleared the ball out of the box, Sarah Cardamone (Downingtown, Pa.) sent the ball back in and Atkinson headed the ball over the rest of the crowd to an all-alone Schaidle. Schaidle collected the ball and tucked the ball in to the net for the ultimate game winner.
Wise went the distance in goal for CofC and made six saves.
The match was the Cougars' final home match of the regular season as the Cougars embark on a four-game season-ending road stretch opening on Sunday, Oct. 16 at Georgia Southern.