Wofford 1, Western Carolina 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Sophomore defender Katherine Whisenhunt scored the game-winning goal in the 64th minute as the Wofford women’s soccer team earned a crucial victory over the Catamounts of Western Carolina, 1-0 in Southern Conference play Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Terriers improved to 7-3-4 overall and 3-1-3 in the Southern Conference. With the loss, the Catamounts fell to 7-8-1 overall and 2-5-0 in the SoCon.
The Catamounts created several opportunities in the first five minutes. The best chance came in the fourth minute, when Kasey Cooke rifled a shot toward the top right of the goal that was saved by Wofford senior goalkeeper Kimberly Cohn.
Western Carolina would continue pressure and create another great chance when Kelly Pannel had a shot saved by Cohn in the 30th minute.
The Terriers created their first good chance of the half in the 32nd minute, when junior forward Annika Jansson had a header saved by Catamount goalkeeper Carly Tinstman.
Wofford would begin to test the Catamounts in the final five minutes with two great chances. The first chance came in the 42nd minute, when Tinstman was forced to make a kick save on sophomore forward Vicki Hill’s shot attempt. Tinstman would come up huge again when she made a tremendous save on the line off a tap-in attempt from freshman forward Faith Lifer.
In the second half, the first great opportunity would come from Wofford senior midfielder Maggie Bosley, as her shot from 20 yards out was saved by Tinstman in the 57th minute.
Wofford would take the lead 1-0 in the 64th minute when Whisenhunt scored inside the 6-yard box off a corner kick from Bosley for her first goal of the season.
The Terriers would continue the pressure with another good chance, but sophomore forward Mary Beth Bleekrode’s shot hit the post in the 69th minute.
The Catamounts almost found the equalizer in the 81st minute, when Brittney Gendron had a long-range shot from the left side hit the crossbar, then the post, and bounce in front of the goal line before being cleared by a Wofford defender.
Sophomore forward Chloe Brackett would have an attempt to extend the Terriers’ lead in the 83rd minute tipped over the bar by Tinstman.
For the match, Wofford and Western Carolina were tied in shots 13-13 and in corner kicks 5-5.
In goal for Wofford, Cohn earned her seventh win and shutout of the season, facing 13 Catamount shots and making five saves. For Western Carolina, Tinstman faced 13 Terrier shots and made seven saves, falling to her eighth loss of the season.
The Terriers return to action on Friday, Oct. 25, when they host Southern Conference foe Davidson College on Snyder Field at 6 p.m.
Western Carolina also returns to action Oct. 25, at Francis Marion at 7 p.m.
The Citadel 3, Chattanooga 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Ruth Leiva and Nicole Levermann scored first-half goals to stake The Citadel to a 2-0 lead, and the Bulldogs went on to a 3-1 victory over Chattanooga to complete a Southern Conference weekend women's soccer sweep.
The Citadel (5-8-2, 3-5 SoCon) added to its 3-2 win over then-first place Samford on Friday to move into solid contention for a berth in the SoCon playoffs. The Bulldogs swept a two-game conference weekend for the third time in school history and first since accomplishing the feat twice in 2010.
The win was the fourth in the past five seasons for The Citadel over Chattanooga (5-10, 0-7).
With Western Carolina and Davidson both losing on Sunday, the Bulldogs moved into a tie for eighth with Davidson in the standings with nine points. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the postseason.
The Citadel plays its final two league games at home on Friday against Appalachian State at 3 p.m. and Sunday against Western Carolina at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs are looking to reach the conference tournament for the first time since 2010.
Leiva got The Citadel offense started against the Mocs in the 25th minute when she scored her fourth goal of the season, beating Chattanooga goalkeeper Taylor Mangrum with a one-on-one move. The senior found the net for the ninth time in her career, good for a tie for ninth in school history.
Fellow senior Levermann continued her outstanding weekend with her third goal of the road trip six minutes later, taking a corner kick from Lea Raedle and heading it past Mangrum. Levermann has five goals on the year and 17 in her career, moving her into fifth place in The Citadel record book.
The assist was the seventh of the year for freshman Raedle, tying Vanessa Aponte's total from last year for the school's single-season record. Raedle is already tied for fourth in career assists in school history.
Chattanooga got back in the game in the 60th minute, when Monica Speth scored for the fifth time this season, assisted by Crystal Mackezyk on a corner kick.
The Bulldogs answered in the 78th minute, when Ana Mesa scored for the second time this season. The Mocs had three shots in the final three minutes, but Naomi Carter stopped two of them.
Levermann and Leiva had five and four shots, respectively, and The Citadel had 17 in the game, one fewer than the Mocs. Carter made four saves for the Bulldogs, while Mangrum recorded nine saves for Chattanooga.
Chattanooga returns to action Oct. 25 at Elon at 7 p.m.
Georgia Southern 1, UNCG 0
STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern defeated UNCG on Sunday afternoon, 1-0. The Eagles recognized Senior Day at Eagle Field, honoring all of their seniors prior to the match for their contributions to the program.
The Eagles boosted their overall record to 5-8-2 and 3-3-1 in SoCon play. The Spartans fell to 8-6-2 overall and 3-2-2 in the league.
UNCG had not lost a SoCon match on the road in the last four years, but the Eagles were able to break the Spartans’ 25-match unbeaten streak. The Eagles have now won three of the last four games against UNCG.
With just 12 minutes left in the game, Nora El-Shami scored a phenomenal goal off of a corner kick, her fourth of the season. Last season, Nora scored the game-winning goal as the Eagles upset the top-seeded Spartans in the opening round of the SoCon tournament.
The Eagles encounter Furman next Friday, Oct. 25, in Greenville, S.C.
UNCG hosts Samford on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m.
Elon 4, Davidson 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s soccer team won another high-scoring affair on Sunday, as the Phoenix topped the Davidson Wildcats, 4-2, at Alumni Stadium for its third straight victory.
Elon improved to 10-2-4 (4-1-2 Southern Conference) with the win, while Davidson fell to 5-9-3 (3-4 Southern Conference) with the setback.
Elon scored two goals in the match’s first three minutes on scores by Nicole Dennion and Jennifer McGorty, but the Wildcats erased the two-goal deficit by getting scores from the freshman duo of Ashley Finke at the 40:18 mark and Kate Joss a few minutes later to tie things up going into halftime.
Marissa Russo gave the Phoenix a 3-2 edge in the 52nd minute following a strike that landed in the back of the net off a McGorty pass.
Kendall Stanley gave the maroon and gold a two-goal lead in the 70th minute on a great header pass from Catherine Brinkman to put her squad ahead, 4-2.
Elon held the Wildcats in check from that point forward, holding on for its third straight win.
Dennion’s goal in the first minute marked her 10th of the season, while she also recorded an assist to bring her season point total to 25. McGorty scored her seventh goal and added her fourth assist of the season in the win, bringing her season point total to 18.
The Phoenix outshot the Wildcats 14-9 and finished with a 4-3 edge in corners.
Elon returns to action at home on Friday when it welcomes Chattanooga to Rudd Field for a 7 p.m. kick.
Davidson
Samford 2, Francis Marion 1 (2OT)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – With 1:17 left to play in double overtime, Samford’s Michelle Moll gathered a pass from Malcanisha Kelley and fired the game-winning goal far into the right-hand corner of the net. Moll’s goal, her fourth of the season, lifted the Bulldogs’ soccer team to a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Francis Marion Patriots on Friday in a nonconference match held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
With Sunday’s victory, Samford (11-4-1) improved to 2-0 all-time against Francis Marion (0-15) and moved to 7-1-1 at home this season.
The Patriots opened the scoring in the 51st minute with a goal from Chanel Harris. On the play, Francis Marion’s Yasmin Bunter gathered an errant Samford pass and dropped it over quickly to Harris. Harris then fired a 20-yard shot from the left flank all the way across into the top right corner of the net.
The goal was Harris’ team-leading fifth of the season, while Bunter’s helper proved to be her team-leading seventh assist of the 2013 campaign.
Midway through the second half, Samford still trailed Francis Marion, 1-0.
In the 78th minute, the Bulldogs’ Kelley equalized the match at 1-1 with her fifth score of the season. On Samford’s critical goal, which occurred at exactly 77:44, Moll sent in a laser from the left side that caromed off the right post. The ball bounded back toward the middle of the field, where Kelley zoomed in to collect it and fired the match-tying shot into the left corner of the net.
Moll was credited with her third assist of the season on the play.
Samford outshot Francis Marion, 28-12, but the match seemingly was headed to a 1-1 draw late in double overtime. The Patriots were doing their best to stall the match and to fire any loose balls far out of bounds.
Despite those odds, the Bulldogs kept charging in the double-overtime period as Trine Taule gained possession of the ball around midfield. Taule, Samford’s senior native of Frekhaug, Norway, then sent a pass neatly upfield to Kelley in the left flank. She corralled the ball, took a couple of dribbles and then pushed the ball up ahead to Moll near the left sideline.
Moll, the Bulldogs’ senior midfielder from Evansville, Ind., took Kelley’s pass, juked her way around the final Francis Marion defender and beat the Patriots’ goalkeeper, Taylor O’Berry, into the bottom right corner of the net. The score was Moll’s fourth of the season and her second game-winner.
True freshman Dale Steinagle earned her first career start in goal Sunday and made three crucial stops. Samford’s native of Murfreesboro, Tenn., faced a total of 12 shot attempts from Francis Marion and improved her record on the season to 1-0.
Samford started Sunday’s nonconference contest with five freshmen and three sophomores. The only similar starters from Friday’s night’s loss to The Citadel were Shanika Thomas, Mary Grabowsky and Alissa Hansen. A total of five players all made their first career starts Sunday.
The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs travel to Greensboro, N.C., for a key SoCon road contest against UNCG Spartans to be held at the UNCG Soccer Stadium (3,540).
Appalachian State 0, Furman 0 (2OT)
BOONE, N.C. – The Furman women’s soccer team played to a 0-0 draw in its final regular-season road game of the year at Appalachian State on Sunday afternoon to maintain its lead in the race for the Southern Conference regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in next month’s SoCon Tournament.
The draw moved the Paladins to 11-3-2 overall and 5-1-1 in the SoCon, while Appalachian State moved to 6-5-4 overall and 3-1-4 in the conference. Furman, with 16 points from seven SoCon matches, holds a two-point lead on second place Elon (4-1-2, 14 pts.) with Appalachian State and Samford tied for third with 13 points.
Sophomore goalkeeper Rose Hull helped the Paladins secure a point on a day when the offense created just three chances on goal. Hull, a Brentwood, Tenn., native, stopped three second-half shots from the Mountaineers and finished the match with four saves to notch her third shutout of the campaign. Her 0.40 goals against average continues to lead the SoCon.
Furman tested Appalachian State’s Megan Roberson with a pair of shots on goal in the first half, but the Paladins managed just one shot on target over the final 65 minutes as Roberson earned the shutout for the Mountaineers.
Samantha Childress led the Mountaineers in shots with four. Julia Holz and Sam Neill followed with three shots apiece on the afternoon.
Appalachian State finished with a 15-14 advantage in shot attempts and 4-3 edge in shots on goal.
The Mountaineers honored their seniors before the game. Those honored were Jordan Hatton, Jamie Lockie, Neill, Sonia Sanchez, Jordan Vezina and Amy Werdine. Also honored was senior athletic trainer Hannah Daily.
Furman opens its regular-season-closing three-match homestand by hosting Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. on Friday at Stone Stadium. The Paladins entertain Davidson next Sunday before concluding the regular season at home versus Wofford on Oct. 30.