Samford 1, Mercer 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It was a victory so nice, Samford fans rushed the field twice. The Bulldogs, behind an early goal from senior Amanda Abbott and a stingy defensive performance Sunday, defeated the Mercer Bears 1-0 in a thrilling, hard-fought contest in front of 902 boisterous fans to claim the regular-season title of the Southern Conference.
Samford’s regular-season title was its second in four years and its sixth under head coach Todd Yelton. The Bulldogs also won the regular-season championship in 2011 and went on to earn a trip to the 2011 NCAA tournament.
Following Samford’s win Sunday, the Bulldogs’ crowd rushed the field to celebrate the championship title with the team.
Five minutes later, the officiating crew summoned the fans off the field and declared that 21.3 seconds be placed back on the clock.
Samford coaches and administrators then ushered the cheering horde off the pitch and play resumed amidst some contentious circumstances.
With seconds waning, Mercer’s goalkeeper, Maggie Cropp, played the ball in from midfield and sent a kick deep into the box. Samford’s Olivia Cole then skied high to head the ball out wide on the right flank, where sophomore Emily Jones played the pass out of bounds. The Bears’ final throw-in attempt proved to be futile.
Hence, the Bulldogs were victorious again and Samford’s throng of students rushed the field a second time in joyous celebration.
With its victory Sunday, Samford (12-7, 7-2 SoCon) finished the regular season with 21 points. Mercer (11-5-2, 6-1-2 SoCon) entered the match undefeated in conference play and as the first-place team in the league’s standings. The Bears finished the day with 20 points and as the third-seeded squad in the upcoming SoCon tournament.
The Bulldogs will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament and earned a first-round bye. On Saturday at 7 p.m. (CDT) at the Samford Track and Soccer Complex, Samford will play host to the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between The Citadel and VMI.
No. 3 seed Mercer will host No. 6 seed Western Carolina in the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2, at Bear Field.
Samford’s Abbott scored her second goal of the weekend Sunday and it proved to be one of the biggest of her career.
Just 4:24 into the contest, Abbott gathered a pretty forwarding pass from sophomore Jermaine Seoposenwe and quickly darted to her right to evade the oncoming goalkeeper. Once juking past Cropp, Abbott took advantage of the empty net and rifled a shot home to give Samford an early 1-0 lead.
Abbott’s goal would prove to be the lone score in the Bulldogs’ critical victory. On her team-leading ninth goal of the season, Seoposenwe and Ariane Lukens were awarded with assists.
Seoposenwe leads the team with nine assists and 23 points this season.
Samford’s true freshman goalkeeper, Anna Maddox, finished with a pair of huge saves Sunday, while Cropp tallied a match-high five stops.
Heading into Sunday’s contest, the Bulldogs needed to defeat Mercer and ETSU had to lose on the road at Western Carolina in order to earn the undisputed regular-season title. Western Carolina defeated ETSU, 3-2, at home.
The Citadel 8, Chattanooga 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Vanessa Aponte recorded her first career hat trick and Lea Raedle set a school record with four assists, leading The Citadel to an 8-2 win at Chattanooga in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The Bulldogs are the ninth seed in the Southern Conference tournament and travel to Lexington, Va., for an opening-round game against eighth-seeded VMI on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The Citadel enters the postseason with an overall record of 6-13 and 2-7 in the SoCon.
The Keydets are also 2-7 in the league (3-14-1 overall) but earned the home game over the Bulldogs on the strength of a 3-2 head-to-head win in Charleston, S.C., on Sept. 26. The winner of The Citadel-VMI game will meet top-seeded Samford in Birmingham, Ala., in the quarterfinals on Nov. 1.
Chattanooga will be at Wofford in the other first-round game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The eight goals are the most ever recorded by the Bulldogs in a SoCon game, topping the previous mark of four set against Georgia Southern in 2012.
Raedle and Mady Riegel also had two goals against the Mocs (1-16-1, 0-9), senior Nicholle Griffith scored the first of her career and Kim Maldonado added two assists. Sam Millspaugh, starting in goal for the injured Naomi Carter, made four saves and earned her second career victory.
Aponte added an assist to her three goals and has season totals of 10 goals, four assists and 24 points. She had scored two goals in a game three times in her career, including earlier this year against Charleston Southern, and her goal and point totals are tied for fourth in a season in The Citadel record book.
In the career record book, Aponte ranks first in assists (19), second in points (71) and third in goals (26).
Melanie Arredondo, one of UTC’s three seniors, scored her second goal in as many games, while freshman Brandy Herrera connected on the first of her career.
Furman 5, VMI 1
LEXINGTON, Va. – Midfielder Stephanie DeVita netted her first career hat trick and established a new Furman record with her 21st career match-winning goal to lead the Paladins to a 5-1 victory over VMI in the Southern Conference women’s soccer-regular season finale for both schools on Sunday at Patchin Field.
The win marked the fifth consecutive victory for the Paladins, who improved to 12-3-2 overall and 6-1-2 in conference play. With the win and ETSU’s 3-2 loss on Sunday at Western Carolina, Furman clinched the No. 2 seed in next week’s SoCon tournament and will host the winner of Wednesday’s Chattanooga at Wofford opening-round matchup on Sunday in Stone Stadium at 2 p.m.
VMI finished the regular season at 3-14-1 overall and 2-7-0 in SoCon play. The Keydets will host The Citadel in the opening round of the SoCon tournament on Wednesday.
DeVita, who upped her season scoring total to 14 and career goals total to 48 on Sunday, opened the scoring at the 19:20 mark by heading an India Robinson corner kick in at the back post. The Simpsonville, S.C., native and Hillcrest High School product doubled the lead only 46 seconds later by firing a shot that trickled under VMI goalkeeper Sydnie Bligh.
After assisting on DeVita’s second tally, sophomore Carlie Couch scored a goal of her own at the 37:35 mark to increase the Furman lead to 3-0. Senior Alyssa Althoff lofted a long ball over the top of the VMI defense and Couch ran onto the pass before beating Bligh one-on-one for her seventh goal of the campaign.
VMI’s Sarah Putney put the Keydets on the board with her first goal of the season just 7:16 into the second half, but junior Jamie Alexander answered for the Paladins in the 58th minute. Althoff swung a left-footed cross into the 6-yard box and Alexander tapped in her shot for her ninth goal of the year at 57:59.
DeVita finished the scoring and handed Furman a 5-1 lead at 61:46 to complete her first career hat trick by heading in a Robinson cross following a Paladin corner kick. Robinson’s assist was her 17th of the season and made her just the second player in SoCon history to reach 50 career assists. Her season assists total matches her NCAA leading 17 assists she recorded a year ago.
The Paladins outshot the Keydets 29-2 and fashioned a 19-1 advantage in shots on goal. Junior Maggie Grisell notched the victory in goal, while VMI’s Bligh made 14 saves in a losing effort.
UNCG 2, Wofford 1
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women’s soccer team ended the regular season in style, netting a game-winning goal to defeat Wofford, 2-1, Sunday afternoon on Senior Day at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
The Spartans closed the regular season with a 9-7-3 record and a 5-3-1 mark in the Southern Conference. Wofford fell to 5-9, 3-6 in league play. UNCG clinched the No. 5 seed with the win and will travel to Johnson City, Tenn., to face fourth-seeded ETSU on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The Blue and Gold took eight shots holding Wofford to just seven in the game. Both teams had four corner kicks in the contest.
In the 79th minute, sophomore Kelsi Peters played a long ball to junior Candice Forbes, who raced ahead of the defense and beat the keeper to give UNCG the victory. It was Forbes’ fifth goal of the season and third against conference opponents.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Chloe Buehler earned the win, making three saves to keep Wofford off the scoreboard in the second half.
Junior Chesney White finished the game with five shots, including two chances early in the second half. White had a shot blocked in the 47th minute and her attempt in the 48th minute was turned away by Wofford goalkeeper Kara Boggs.
In the first half, UNCG scored first in the 12th minute after a great attack from White, who played a cross into the box, where senior Ashley Stokes tapped in her first goal of the season. It was fitting that on Senior Day, Stokes would score her 10th career goal.
Wofford answered with a goal in the 30th minute after Vicki Hill blasted a shot into the net to tie the game at 1-1. Maureen Buff had the assist on the play as Hill scored her first goal of the season.
The loss did not affect the Terriers’ seeding in the Southern Conference tournament, as the team locked in the No. 7 seed in Friday’s 5-0 win over VMI. The Terriers will host a first-round matchup at Snyder Field against No. 10 seed Chattanooga on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
Western Carolina 3, ETSU 2
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Junior forward Markie-Lynn Studnicky scored the game-winning goal and also had two assists, as Western Carolina notched a 3-2 upset over ETSU on Sunday at the Catamount Athletic Complex.
The win pushed the Catamounts' record to 8-6-4 overall and 5-3-1 in the Southern Conference. ETSU fell to 14-5 and 6-3 in conference play, costing the Buccaneers a chance at the SoCon regular-season title.
As for the SoCon Championships, Western Carolina earned the No. 6 seed. Western Carolina's No. 6 seed is the highest for the Catamounts since a sixth seed in 2009. Western Carolina will travel to No. 3 seed Mercer on Nov. 2 for a 2 p.m. kickoff. In the previous meeting, Oct. 2 in Macon, Ga., Western Carolina lost a heartbreaker, 1-0.
ETSU claimed the No. 4 seed and will face No. 5 seed UNCG on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Western Carolina set the tone early against ETSU, scoring the first goal of the game. Just 13 minutes into the contest, redshirt junior midfielder Kimberly Sullivan took a pass from Studnicky and sailed the ball into the back of the net at the top right corner.
ETSU tied the game at 26:54 off a set play. Jasmin Dutton took the corner kick for the Bucs and sent it into the box. The ball deflected off Western Carolina goalkeeper Carly Tinstman's fingertips and then fell in front of Hannah Short, who shot and scored.
Short, the nation's leading goalscorer, matched the Southern Conference's single-season goals record Sunday, recording her 24th score of the season.
Tied at one at the half, it was anyone's game in the second half. Western Carolina took control thanks to back-to-back goals in over a minute.
At the 78:02 mark, junior forward Kelly Pannell posted her fourth goal of the season thanks to Studnicky. Off Studnicky's fast break, she passed the ball to Pannell, who sent it into the right side of the net.
After two assists, Studnicky scored a goal of her own at 79:34. Studnicky scored off a corner kick by Madison Lee, who sent the ball in front of the goal and Studnicky rifled it in for the goal.
Studnicky's insurance goal turned out to be the game-winner for Western Carolina. ETSU trimmed WCU's lead to one, 3-2, when Molly Collinson scored off an assist by Sarah Zadrazil at 82:40.
For the final seven minutes, Western Carolina relied on its stellar defense to close out the win.
Western Carolina's win over ETSU also halted the Bucs’ three-game winning streak.