Western Carolina 2, Gardner-Webb 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina women's soccer defeated Gardner-Webb 2-0 Sunday night at the Catamount Soccer Complex in the club's lone exhibition match of the season.
Head Soccer Coach Chad Miller had a lot to learn about his team, in the pre-season warm-up. He got to see what some of his 17 freshmen could do in live match play, starting five newcomers in the match.
Miller was also anticipating the return of a pair of redshirt juniors, who had to sit out last season due to injury, in Samantha Hodge and Kayla Beauduy.
Hodge proved her year-long hiatus was worth the wait as she scored the first goal in the match. Six minutes into the first period, Hodge hit a shot to the right of the goalie, off an assist by freshman Christine Cockrell, for the score. Hodge's goal would be the only one scored in the first half.
Bulldog goalie Erika Lenns bent in the first half but didn't break for almost 80 minutes after, suffering a barrage of 18 shots by the Catamounts. Late in the second half, Miller saw one of his freshmen put the ball in the net. At the 84:53 mark, newbie Kimberly Sullivan bounced a header, from an assist by Brittany Gendron, inside the box, past the Gardner-Webb goalie for the insurance goal.
Of the 18 shots by WCU, five were made by junior forward Laura Grebb. Fellow junior Lindsay Carter has three shots in the match. Catamount goalie Katie Jacobs had one save in the match on four Bulldog shots.
Western Carolina opens regular season play on August 19 at facing Western Kentucky in a tournament hosted by the Hilltoppers. Match time is set for 8 p.m.
UNCG 1, North Georgia 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Lauren Hein scored in the fourth minute and keepers Kelsey Kearney and Alex Perry made the goal stand as UNCG's women's soccer team downed North Georgia 1-0 in the Spartans' final exhibition match of the preseason on Sunday.
The teams played three 30-minute periods and were allowed unlimited substitutions. The Saints, an NCAA Division II team that was nationally ranked last season, played 22 players in the match, while UNCG played 17.
Hein got the Spartans on the board quickly on a nice strike at the 3:59 mark. Redshirt sophomore Nitang Jones slipped her a nice through ball just inside the 18-yard box and Hein beat North Georgia keeper Kirsten Ross to the far post for what would prove to be the decisive score.
UNCG took eight of its 11 shots in the contest in the opening period. Junior Karin Sendel, a transfer from Ohio State, nearly made it a 2-0 game in the 25th minute, as she corralled a Jones corner kick and put a strike on goal to the far post, out of Ross' reach. North Georgia's defense came to the rescue, however, as a defender knocked the ball away for the team save.
Moments later, Hein forced Ross' lone save of the day.
The Saints put their first shot on target shortly into the second period, with Abby Trevino forcing the first of Perry's three saves on the afternoon. Trevino would have two more chances just minutes later, but her attempts in the 44th and 45th minutes were also put away by Perry.
Jones forced a Taylor Fragnito save in the 48th minute, but that was as close as the Spartans came to scoring in the second frame.
Neither side mounted much of an offense in the third stanza, with the teams taking just one shot each. Jaimey Etten's attempt was high for the Spartans in the 73rd minute, while Trevino missed wide in the 74th.
Trevino had a game-high four shots for the Saints, while the team managed six total. UNCG had 11, with Hein and Jones notching three each.
Kearney didn't need to make a save in 46:20 of work, while Perry had three stops in 43:40.
Ross allowed a goal and made one save in 60 minutes of action, while Fragnito made a save in 13:42 and Alex Dunlap played 16:18 without needing to record a stop.
The contest was UNCG's final warm-up of the preseason. The Spartans will kick off regular-season play at the UNCG Soccer Stadium on Friday when it hosts Virginia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Georgia Southern 1, North Florida 0
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern Women's Soccer will enter the 2011 season with a victory in hand after taking an 1-0 exhibition win over North Florida on Friday, August 12th in Statesboro. The Eagles scored early and controlled the run of play through the 83rd minute when lightning in the area hastened the final whistle.
"I think we were able to see a lot of options, putting different players in different positions today," said Head Coach Lindsey Vanderspiegel. "After today's game we see what we need to work on going forward into the final week of training camp and how far we have come from the spring season."
Georgia Southern took an early lead on a seventh-minute goal off the right foot of senior Sara Oland (Evans, Ga.). The Eagle forward pressured the Osprey defense into a bad backpass which was well wide of the UNF goalkeeper. Oland streaked into the box and tapped the ball across the line with no pressure.
Approaching the halftime interval, Georgia Southern had a goal opportunity come for naught on a foul inside the box. A corner kick was played into the area and headed home by Zoe Van Gorder (Park City, Utah). The transfer junior, however, was called for a foul on the play to negate the goal.
The second half was again controlled by the Eagles who stepped up the defense in the second half, allowing just one shot on goal in the match. Sophomore goalkeeper Katie Merson (Albuquerque, N.M.) earned the clean sheet between the pipes while making just one save.
The Eagles open the 2011 regular season on Friday, August 19th on the road against Winthrop. The match in Rock Hill, S.C. starts at 7 p.m.
College of Charleston 2, Mercer 2
MACON, Ga. - The College of Charleston women's soccer team battled Mercer to a 2-2 draw in the team's sole exhibition contest of the 2011 season on Saturday afternoon at Bear Field.
Hannah Gmerek (Piedmont, S.C.) and Sarah Cardamone (Downingtown, Pa.) did the scoring for the Cougars. CofC was outshot, 17-12, but many of the Bears' shot attempts came on long, non-threatening balls into the box, which were well-handled by the Cougars' keepers.
Lindsay Frey (Cincinnati, Ohio) picked up an assist on the game's first goal as she sent a deep ball into the box onto the boot of Gmerek who made a long run from her left-back midfield position. Gmerek possessed the ball one-on-one and beat the keeper to the far post to put CofC up, 1-0.
"I got a great ball in the box from Lindsey Frey that couldn't have been any better," said Gmerek. "I maintained my composure and put the ball in the back of the net, but I have nothing to thank except for my teammates getting me in that position."
The goal came in the 30th minute and the Cougars carried the lead into the halftime break.
Mercer equalized the match in the early minutes of the second half with a 48th-minute goal from sophomore forward Casey Barrett assisted by Washida Blackman.
The Cougars recaptured the lead in the 49th minute with Cardamone's electrifying goal. Hope Atkinson (Rumson, N.J.) possessed the ball around the backline and flicked the ball back towards Cardamone around the six-yard line. With her back to goal, Cardamone flipped back and struck the ball in bicycle-kick fashion with her right foot into the back of the net.
Mercer equalized again, however, with a free-kick goal by Emerald Phillips in the 77th minute.
Lightning struck in the 84th minute and the game was called with roughly six minutes remaining due to the weather conditions.
"This was a really good game for two well-matched teams," said head coach Christian Michner. "We showed a lot of quality and realized where we still have room to improve moving towards our season opener. We gave up some goals that we can learn from and hopefully reduce as the year goes on. We went ahead twice and need to focus on keeping those leads safe as we work to win the Southern Conference."
"I think we played very well together once we found our rhythm and played well as a team in our first game together," said Gmerek. "Now we have to refocus on playing Charleston Southern. We just need to work on maintaining that rhythm and working together as a team. We're working hard to win the conference but are taking everything one game at a time."
The Cougars open the regular season at home on Friday, Aug. 19 against Charleston Southern at 7 p.m. at Patriots Point.
Samford 0, Tennessee 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- In the first match held at the brand-new Samford Soccer Complex, the Samford University soccer team fought to a 0-0 draw Friday against the Tennessee Lady Vols in a hard-fought preseason exhibition contest.
"I thought our team played well," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "Tennessee is a good team and (Head Coach) Angela (Kelly) does a great job with them. We knew that they would present a challenge with the athleticism that they possess, but in all honestly I didn't really know what to expect from our team. So far this preseason, we haven't had enough healthy players to play 11-vs-11, so I was very happy with the effort tonight."
Samford (0-0-1) dictated the pace of the match for a predominant portion of the first half and led Tennessee (0-0-1) with five shot attempts to three in the opening period. The teams finished Friday's contest tied 11-11 in total shots.
"We seemed to control the match early in the first half, but that was also when the heat was making it very difficult for both teams," Yelton said. "I was happy with the amount of chances that we created. I also thought we did a good job with our movement off the ball, but at the end of the day we still want to score goals and I think we're getting closer to that goal."
The Bulldogs' senior goalkeeper Alyssa Whitehead tallied five saves in 90 minutes of play, while Tennessee's starting goalkeeper Julie Eckel posted five saves in nearly 57 minutes of action. The Lady Vols' sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Rolfs entered the match in the second half but didn't tally a save in the final 33 minutes of regulation.
Due to Friday's contest being an exhibition match, the teams did not play overtime.
Pacing the Bulldogs' offense was sophomore midfielder Trine Taule and true freshman Amanda Abbott. Taule led Samford with three shot attempts, one of which was on-goal, while Abbott tallied two shot attempts, her first of which nearly gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 advantage.
Midway through the first period, Abbott received a brilliant lead pass from Kaley Blanton and sped her way past a pair of Tennessee defenders. Blanton's service ball was perfectly placed ahead of Abbott and she was barely able to rattle off a shot to the right of the charging goalkeeper. Abbott's empty-net shot attempt was heading towards the right corner of the net, but ran out of gas just short of the goal line.
Samford posted six corner kicks Friday as compared to five from Tennessee.
"I'm pleased with how we played today," said Yelton. "I thought we always had a chance to be pretty good, but at the end of the day it was just an exhibition match, so we can't get carried away with how we played, because there are a lot of factors that go into it. This was just another piece of the puzzle towards getting better and we still have work to do. Hopefully, we'll continue to get better before the regular season and then get even better before the beginning of SoCon play."
Tennessee's offensive attack was led by senior midfielder Chelsea Hatcher. The Lady Vols' native of Cincinnati, Ohio, rattled off three shot attempts Friday, two of which were on goal.
Samford finished the match with 16 student-athletes receiving playing time and eight different Bulldogs tallying shot attempts. Tennessee finished with 20 players earned playing time, while nine different Lady Vols rattled off shots.
"I thought that Kaley Blanton did an outstanding job for us today considering we asked her to play in the back and she hasn't done that much," Yelton said. "She played 90 minutes for us tonight and that's the first time she's done that since she's been at Samford. I thought Kaley was fantastic and then Shanika also played all 90 minutes and she really helped in the midfield. Those two were good, but I can't say a single bad word about any of our players and how they performed for us tonight."
The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs continue their exhibition season against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at the MSU Soccer Field located in Starkville, Miss.
Winthrop 2, Wofford 0