Mercer 3, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Mercer women’s soccer team cruised past The Citadel, 3-0, on Friday afternoon to remain undefeated in Southern Conference play.
The Bears improved to 10-4-2 on the season and 5-0-2 in league play, while the Bulldogs dropped to 5-12 overall and 1-6 in the SoCon. This marks Mercer’s fifth consecutive 10-win season.
After a scoreless first stanza, Mercer took a 1-0 lead in the 47th minute after The Citadel knocked the ball into its own goal following a Mercer corner kick.
Emma Chandlee scored the first goal of her career in the 72nd minute to put the Bears up 2-0. Chandlee put a deflected ball into the lower right corner of the net and was assisted by Katelyn Dimopoulos and Liz Hopkins.
Mercer stretched its advantage to 3-0 in the 88th minute when Washida Blackman took a cross and shot the ball to the right side of the goal. Blackman was assisted by Tess Patton and Sydney Brogden.
The Bears controlled the shot count, 16-5, as well as the corner kicks, 5-1.
Goalkeeper Maggie Cropp made one save and recorded her fifth shutout of the season.
Next up, the Bears will face Chattanooga on Friday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Bulldogs wrap up the regular season on the road with games at Samford next Friday and Chattanooga two days later.
Wofford 10, Chattanooga 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College women’s soccer team scored a program-best 10 goals in a 10-0 victory over Chattanooga on Friday evening at Snyder Field.
The Terriers moved to 5-8 overall and 2-4 against the SoCon. The Mocs fell to 1-13-1 on the year and 0-6 in league play.
The win over the conference opponent set the single-game record for goals (10) and points (30) in a single game in the program’s 21-season history. The highest goal total in a single game was previously nine, set in a 9-0 victory on Sept. 22, 2002, against The Citadel.
The Terriers were dominant throughout, keeping the ball in the attacking third for the majority of the game. Wofford amassed 35 shots, with 17 on goal. Wofford also created eight attempts from the corner. Wofford and Chattanooga each committed 11 fouls.
Hannah Washko highlighted the match for the Terriers, finishing with five points on two goals and an assist. Washko scored twice in a six-minute span, striking first in the 34th minute. The freshman received a pass in the box from Vicki Hill, heading the ball in the back of the net. Six minutes later, the midfielder volleyed the ball home via a corner-kick service from freshman defender Rachel Fenner.
Mary Kathryn Macklen also notched two goals in the outing. The senior began in the 25th minute, blasting a goal into the top right corner from 24 yards out. Macklen struck again at the 53:03 mark, shooting from the top of the 18-yard box and placing the ball in the back left corner of the goal on a pass from senior forward Annika Jansson.
The Terriers were off to a quick start, scoring first at the 5:15 mark. A corner sent in from junior defender Katherine Whisenhunt found the head of Faith Lifer in the box. Lifer chipped the keeper with the header for her third goal of the season and the eventual game-winner.
Just a minute later, Brianna LaFontant would score for the Terriers. Lifer took a shot on goal that ricocheted to LaFontant’s feet, allowing the redshirt freshman to blast home the second goal of the match. LaFontant’s goal was then followed by Macklen’s first and the pair from Washko.
In the 39th minute, junior midfielder Mary Beth Bleekrode entered the action, scoring her first goal of the season to put the Terriers up 6-0. Senior Shonte Campbell sent a corner kick in to Washko in the box. Washko flicked the ball to Bleekrode, who blasted the goal in.
Freshman Katie Beuerline capped the first-half scoring at 43:09, adding a goal of her own. A pass in from Alex Hoots on the left side of the field allowed the forward to set up in the box and strike the ball into the bottom left corner past Chattanooga keeper Hannah Dunn. The Terriers entered halftime up, 7-0.
Macklen’s second goal opened up the second-half scoring before Campbell scored her third career goal. Bleekrode played a through ball in to Campbell in the box, who then slid to tap the ball past the diving keeper.
Freshman midfielder Josie Hanes would round out the Terriers’ scoring for the evening. Hoots would assist once again, passing the ball in the center of the box to Hanes, who booted the ball into the wide-open goal.
Senior keeper Kara Boggs stood in goal for the Terriers with two saves, earning her third shutout of the season.
The Terriers will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday, when the squad takes on conference power Samford. Eight seniors in Boggs, Maureen Buff, Jordan Burke, Shonte Campbell, Vicki Hill, Annika Jansson, Macklen and Chelsea Turner will be honored in a pregame ceremony. Kickoff will begin at 2 p.m.
Chattanooga will close out the regular-season road slate Sunday afternoon at Furman.
UNCG 1, Western Carolina 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Junior Chesney White scored with under two minutes left to lift the UNCG women’s soccer team to a 1-0 road victory Friday night at Western Carolina.
The Spartans improved to 8-5-3, 4-1-1 in conference play, while Western Carolina fell to 6-6-4, 3-3-1 in league action. With the victory, UNCG (13 points) jumped into third place behind Mercer (17 points) and ETSU (15 points) in the league standings.
In the 88th minute, junior Tracy Wolf played a cross into the box, where White slid a shot into the back of the net. It was White’s sixth game-winning goal and 14th of the season to give the Spartans a key road victory.
In a physical game in which both teams were competing for a win, the Blue and Gold were able to come away with their third conference road win.
In the second half, the Catamounts put some pressure on the Spartans with a couple of scoring chances. Taylor Webb took a shot in the 71st minute, hitting the post, but the UNCG defense cleared it away. Another opportunity for Western Carolina came in the 86th minute when Madison Lee hit the post.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Chloe Buehler made four saves in the shutout. The UNCG backline of sophomore Georgia Brown, freshman Melanie Spensiero, sophomore Kelsi Peters and classmate Nicole Epstein kept Western Carolina off the scoreboard.
In the first half, neither team could find the back of the net but UNCG had six shots compared to just three for Western Carolina. Buehler made two saves in the half.
In the ninth minute, UNCG had a great chance early on after sophomore Rebecca Burrows played a pretty through ball to White, who took a touch and fired a shot that hit the crossbar.
White had another chance in the 15th minute, making a run just outside the box and firing a shot that hit the left post.
UNCG had several opportunities just two minutes later as sophomore Alexis Thomas had two shot attempts get blocked inside the box and Wolf had a rebound shot get blocked out of bounds.
The Spartans continue the road trip Sunday at ETSU at 1 p.m.
Western Carolina will host VMI at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Catamounts will be honoring their seven seniors: Caitlyn Bradham, Christine Cockrell, Mackenzie Cole, Brittany Gendron, Jenny Lauer, Madison Lee and Christina White.
Furman 1, Samford 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Sophomore Carlie Couch broke a scoreless tie with a breakaway goal in the 81st minute to lift the Furman women’s soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Samford in Southern Conference action Friday night on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
The win, Furman’s third straight versus Samford, boosted the Paladins to 9-3-2 overall and 3-1-2 in SoCon play, while the Bulldogs fell to 9-7-0 overall and 4-2-0 in the league.
With the match scoreless and just 10 minutes left in regulation, Jamie Alexander played a quick pass to Couch on the counterattack almost 45 yards from goal. The Tifton, Ga., native blew past her defender into the left side of the box before slotting a shot by Bulldog goalkeeper Anna Maddox into the middle of the net at the 80:02 mark. The game’s lone tally marked Couch’s fifth goal of the campaign and her third match-winning score.
Furman came out on the attack from the opening whistle, outshooting the Bulldogs 9-3 in the first half and 17-13 for the match. Rachel Shah provided the first dangerous chance in the fifth minute when her shot inside 6 yards was blocked and Stephanie DeVita’s rebound effort sailed over the bar. With less than four minutes remaining before halftime, Shah tested Samford again, but her dipping shot from the top of the box narrowly missed the top right corner.
In the 50th minute, DeVita sent a driving shot toward the right corner from the middle of the box that was deflected then pushed out for a corner kick by Maddox.
Samford came close to breaking the deadlock seconds before the hour mark, but Furman goalkeeper Rose Hull knocked down Katie Danehy’s close-range shot and corralled Jermaine Seoposenwe’s follow-up attempt while on her back at the goal line.
The shutout marked the seventh of the season for the Paladins and fourth solo clean sheet for Hull. The junior totaled five saves on the night, while Maddox stopped three shots for Samford.
Furman caps its 2014 regular-season home schedule on Sunday afternoon when it entertains SoCon foe Chattanooga. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. and the Paladins will honor their senior class prior to the opening kickoff.
ETSU 7, VMI 0
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The top goal scorer in Division I, ETSU's Hannah Short, scored three times and added two assists to lead her Buccaneers to a 7-0 win over the VMI Keydets in SoCon women's soccer action Friday night.
ETSU (13-4, 5-2 SoCon) scored twice in the first 8:55 to go up 2-0, and then Short took over the match. She would score or assist on each of her team's next five goals to increase her D1-leading point total to 54, 18 points more than any other Division I player had entering Friday's action.
For the Keydets (3-11-1, 2-4 SoCon), Emily Marbury posted six saves against the potent ETSU attack, which came into the match ranked second in Division I in scoring offense. The home team finished with a 23-3 edge in shots and an 8-2 edge in corners, while ETSU keeper Anna Yancey made one save to keep the Keydets off the scoreboard.
ETSU got on the board in just the third minute, as Jasmin Dutton found the back of the net off a direct corner kick to put her team up, 1-0. The Keydets countered with a sixth-minute shot from Emily Adams that was stopped by Yancey, but the Bucs' next offense possession led to another Dutton corner and again, it led to a goal. This time, Summer Peterson headed home Dutton's effort to make it 2-0, Bucs.
Short scored on a header in the 11th minute to make it 3-0, and then VMI's defense was able to settle down and preserve that margin until the 39th minute. Kristi Davis found the back of the net at 38:17, making it 4-0, and that would be the score at halftime.
Short resumed the match's scoring in the 47th minute, notching her second of the match to make it a 5-0 contest, and Sarah Zadrazil tacked on a score in the 64th minute for a 6-0 ETSU advantage. Short then capped the scoring at 65:29, getting the hat trick and accounting for the final margin, 7-0, with her 23rd goal of the season.
ETSU returns to action Sunday when it hosts UNCG at 1 p.m.
VMI women's soccer will return to action Sunday, taking on Western Carolina in a crucial SoCon battle in Cullowhee, N.C. Game time is set for 2 p.m.