Mercer 5, USC Aiken 0
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer women’s soccer team cruised to a 5-0 victory over USC Aiken on Sunday afternoon at Bear Field.
Maddie Clark put the Bears (5-4) on the board first just 7:13 into the game, when she tapped the ball in after it rebounded to her off the crossbar. Tess Patton found the back of the net just nine minutes later to put Mercer up 2-0, firing the ball in from 25 yards out.
Brianna Stampler added a goal for the Bears when Washida Blackman crossed in front of the goal to Stampler and she used a short shot to score in the 19th minute. Lauren Gassie shot from just 5 yards out to round out the first-half scoring and put Mercer up 4-0 before intermission.
Liz Hopkins scored the only goal of the second half and stretched Mercer’s lead to 5-0 when she found the back of the net off a header that was served to her from Isabel Rothschadl.
The Pacers (3-3-1) recorded three shots, only one of which was on goal. Mercer outshot USC Aiken 16-3 and led 4-2 on corner kicks.
Tess Patton led the Bears with eight shots. Maggie Cropp and Cristina Mursuli split time in goal, and Cropp made a save in the first half.
Next up, Mercer enters conference play when it hosts UNCG on Friday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m.
UNCG 1, James Madison 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Chesney White scored her seventh career game-winning goal to help the UNCG women’s soccer team defeat James Madison, 1-0, Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
The Spartans improved to 4-4-2 on the season, while the Dukes fell to 5-4 with the loss. UNCG hasn’t allowed a goal in 219:00 minutes since the NC state game last weekend.
UNCG scored in the 80th minute off a counter by sophomore Rebecca Burrows, who played a ball to White, who beat the keeper to the right corner of the net. It was White’s seventh goal of the season and 18th career goal at UNCG.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Chloe Buehler picked up the shutout and made four saves in the contest. The backline kept the Dukes off the scoreboard as sophomore Georgia Brown, classmate Alexis Thomas, Zoe Fishman, Kelsi Peters and junior Ashley Eddleman were standouts on defense.
James Madison finished with 10 shots but only four were on frame. The Spartans took five but had a couple of opportunities to push the lead.
In the 86th minute, junior Candice Forbes found the ball all alone inside the box but her shot went just high over the net.
At halftime, UNCG and James Madison were tied 0-0 as the Dukes took six shots compared to just two for the Spartans. UNCG had three corner-kick chances but came away with no chances on net.
Peters had a header chance but it went wide of the net in the 13th minute. White had a shot attempt blocked in the 12th minute.
Buehler made two saves in the half to keep James Madison off the scoreboard.
The Blue and Gold open up SoCon action with two road games at Mercer (Sept. 26) at 7 p.m. and at The Citadel (Sept. 28) at 2 p.m. in Charleston, S.C.
Florida Atlantic 1, Wofford 0 (2OT)
BOCA RATON, Fla. – It took two overtime periods before Florida Atlantic's Hildur Hauksdottir would score the golden goal to defeat Wofford, 1-0, in FAU Soccer Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Hauksdottir's goal was her second of the season, scored in the 102nd minute to give Florida Atlantic the edge. Florida Atlantic's Asta Arnadottir crossed the ball in from the right side of the field before Hauksdottir tapped the ball left, beating Wofford's Shonte Campbell in a one-on-one situation.
Campbell had 10 saves in the eventual loss for the Terriers, a career-best for the Bermuda native.
The Terriers were outplayed on offense, being outshot 26-3 by the Owls. The Owls also managed to earn nine corner kicks, though the Wofford defense did not allow them to score on any of those attempts.
Wofford dropped to 3-4-0 after Sunday's loss. The Terriers will play next against Western Carolina in Cullowhee, N. C., beginning the transition into Southern Conference play. The match will begin at 7 p.m.
Tennessee 3, ETSU 0
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – For the first time all season, the ETSU women's soccer team was held scoreless, falling to in-state foe Tennessee on Sunday night, 3-0, in nonconference action.
The Lady Vols (5-4) outshot ETSU, 11-3, in the first half; however the Bucs (8-2) showed an improved performance in the second half, outshooting Tennessee, 8-7.
In the loss, junior Hannah Short saw her streak of 10 consecutive matches with a goal come to an end. Short's streak ranks seventh all-time in the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Record Book.
ETSU will be back in action Sunday, Sept. 26, as the Bucs host Furman at 7 p.m. to begin Southern Conference play.
College of Charleston 2, The Citadel 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston scored twice in the second half to overcome a penalty-shot goal by Vanessa Aponte in the first half, giving the Cougars a 2-1 victory over The Citadel in a women's soccer contest Sunday at WLI Field.
The Bulldogs finished the nonconference portion of their schedule with a record of 4-6. The Citadel opens Southern Conference play at home on Friday at 4 p.m. against VMI.
Aponte put the Bulldogs on the board first in the 14th minute when she converted her second penalty shot attempt of the season. The goal was her fourth of the year and 20th of her career.
Despite allowing the Aponte goal, the Cougars (4-5) controlled play for most of the first half, taking 12 shots to six for the Bulldogs. But Citadel goalkeeper Naomi Carter made eight saves during the opening 45 minutes to keep it a 1-0 game at halftime.
College of Charleston kept the pressure on in the second half and it paid off in the tying goal 10 minutes into the period when Claire Newman headed in a corner kick by Sarah Cardamone. It stayed even until Mary Kate Bowers took a pass from Hope Walker and beat Carter for the game-winning goal.
The Cougars finished with a 25-13 advantage in shots, with Carter making a season-high 12 saves. The sophomore entered the game ranked third in the nation in saves and increased her season total to 69 with Sunday's performance.
Kennesaw State 4, Samford 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University soccer team came up short in its third consecutive Sunday match of the 2014 season as the Kennesaw State Owls notched two goals in the final 10 minutes of action to garner a 4-2 nonconference victory held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
Samford (5-5) dropped to 1-4 in Sunday matches this season, with three of the losses coming in consecutive weeks. After defeating Georgia State on the road Aug. 31, the Bulldogs have fallen short against No. 3-ranked Virginia, 3-1, Lipscomb, 2-0, and Kennesaw State (3-6-1), 4-2. Samford also lost on the road to No. 14 South Carolina on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2-0.
With the win, Kennesaw State improved to 2-4 all-time against the Bulldogs. Both of the Owls’ victories in the series have occurred in Birmingham at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
Samford opened the scoring Sunday with a penalty-kick goal from sophomore Jermaine Seoposenwe in the 18th minute of play. Seoposenwe’s goal was set up when she was dragged down in the box by a Kennesaw State defender. The score proved to be her third of the 2014 campaign and gave the Bulldogs an early 1-0 advantage.
Kennesaw State outshot Samford, 17-8, on Sunday and progressively amped up its offensive attack throughout the opening half. The Owls rattled off nine shot attempts in the first 45 minutes of action and deposited a pair of goals in a five-minute span from 35:15 to 40:10.
Brittney Reed evened the score at 1-1 with a goal in the 36th minute of play, while Marit Sandtroeen gave Kennesaw State a 2-1 advantage with her second goal of the season in the 41st minute.
With less than three minutes remaining in the opening stanza, Samford’s Sara Smeltzer equalized the match at 2-2 with a goal set up brilliantly by both Anna Allen and Malcanisha Kelley.
On the scoring play, Allen found Kelley neatly on the right sideline as she was darting toward midfield. Kelley quickly took two touches on the ball and then sent a pinpoint-precise crossing pass up ahead to Smeltzer. Smeltzer, who was completing her run directly down the middle of the field, ran onto the pass exactly 5 yards in front of the goal and slammed home the score.
Smeltzer’s goal was her first of the 2014 season and tied the match at 2-2 heading into halftime.
In Sunday’s second half, both teams stepped up defensively and held each other scoreless until the 81st minute of action, when Kennesaw State’s Maggie Gaughan tallied the game-winning goal off a crossing pass from Ashtah Das. The goal was Gaughan’s first of two on the night and her fourth of the season.
Gaughan also gave the Owls their decisive 4-2 score with 25 seconds remaining when she rifled home an empty-netter from the midfield line. Kennesaw State’s native of Marietta, Ga., leads the team with five goals scored this season. The rest of the team has combined to score four goals total in 2014.
The Owls entered Sunday’s match having scored five goals in nine matches this year.
The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs begin play in their 2014 Southern Conference schedule on the road against the Chattanooga Mocs. The Southern Rail Rivalry contest will be held at Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium.
USC Upstate 1, VMI 0
LEXINGTON, Va. – Kenzie Major scored her fifth goal of the season in the 25th minute and it was all the USC Upstate Spartans needed, as they held on for a 1-0 victory over the VMI Keydets in nonconference women’s soccer action Sunday at Patchin Field.
After a scoreless first 24 minutes, Upstate’s Samantha Seelinger made a sliding pass around two VMI defenders at the edge of the box. The ball made it through the defense to the feet of Major, who then put it by VMI goalkeeper Kirsten Hancock for what would prove to be the game’s only goal.
Upstate (2-7) finished with a 13-8 edge in shots and 5-2 advantage in corners, while Kirsten Hancock made three saves and Ellen Bright had four stops for the visitors.
The Keydets (1-7) had the first quality chance in the 10th minute, when Erica Putney had a corner kick. Kristen Whitehurst got free, but had her shot blocked aside. The first shot on goal then came in the 18th minute, when Hancock made a save on Nicki Krejci. After a 23rd-minute save by Hancock, Upstate got on the board in the 25th minute to go up, 1-0.
The visitors continued to pressure the Keydet goal, but Major was turned aside by Hancock in the 33rd minute and then hit the crossbar with a 36th-minute header to keep it a 1-0 contest.
The Keydets countered late in the half, when Sarah Putney split two defenders 15 yards out and worked into a 1-on-1 against Bright, but the Upstate keeper was up to the task and sent her team to halftime up, 1-0.
Upstate nearly put the game away in the 55th minute. Major got free well inside the box after beating multiple defenders and had a 1-on-1 chance against Hancock but pushed a shot wide left to keep it 1-0.
VMI stepped up its pressure over the final 36 minutes of the match. Emily Adams missed wide at 64:02 and Bright stopped Sarah Putney less than 90 seconds later. Whitehurst missed wide left on an open try from 15 in the 70th minute and the chances kept coming.
Eryn Daman misfired high at 72:30, and then perhaps the best VMI chance came in the 87th minute. Alex Frank dropped a pass to Daman, who had a chance from 10 yards out, but was stopped by Bright to preserve the 1-0 margin. Allie Segura was turned aside on VMI’s final shot on goal, an attempt that came at 88:09, to secure the shutout for the visitors.
VMI women’s soccer will return to action Friday, traveling to Charleston, S.C., to face The Citadel. The game will be the first SoCon game ever for Keydet women’s soccer, and opening kick is set for 4 p.m.