Furman 3, Wofford 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Senior Stephanie DeVita netted a pair of goals to claim the Southern Conference’s career goals record and lead Furman to a 3-0 victory over Wofford in women’s soccer action Friday night on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
The midfielder from Simpsonville, S.C., and Hillcrest High School opened the scoring in the fourth minute by heading in Kristen Baker’s cross, and she doubled the lead with her 10th goal of the season in the 74th minute on a tap-in after her initial shot was saved by Wofford’s Mayson Liner. With 60 career goals, DeVita surpassed the previous SoCon career record of 59 set by Georgia Southern’s Tara Chaisson in 1999.
At the 3:55 mark, Baker collected a clearance by the Wofford defense on the left wing and served the ball toward the 6-yard box on the far side of goal. DeVita rose above her defender to head a shot off the underside of the crossbar and over the goal line for her ninth score of the year.
After Wofford turned up the pressure late in the first half, Furman finally added to its lead midway through the second period. Rachel Shah struck an accurate through ball down the middle to put DeVita behind the defense. The senior fired a shot that was deflected by a sliding Liner, but DeVita collected the rebounded and finished into an open net to set the league goals-scored record.
Furman (9-4-1, 2-1-1 SoCon) added a dramatic final goal to the tally with 9:50 remaining in regulation when Jamie Alexander won the battle for a long ball in the attacking half and launched a 41-yard shot over the head of the Wofford keeper and into the right-hand corner for her third goal of the season.
Senior Maggie Grisell notched two saves for Furman to record her fifth shutout of the season and improve to 8-2-1 in net. Liner registered six saves in the loss.
Furman will play a neutral-site contest on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. when it faces the VMI Keydets at the OrthoCarolina Sportsplex in Pineville, N.C. The game was originally scheduled to be played last Sunday in Greenville but was postponed by heavy rains.
Wofford returns home to host South Carolina State on Sunday in its final nonconference game of the season. The contest is set for 2 p.m. at Snyder Field.
Samford 7, VMI 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University soccer team tied its largest margin of victory in Southern Conference play Friday as the Bulldogs notched a 7-0 home triumph against the VMI Keydets in a league matchup held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
Samford’s seven-goal victory equaled its previous SoCon-record total of seven goals, which was also achieved in a 7-0 win at The Citadel on Oct. 3, 2010.
Samford (10-4, 5-0 SoCon) extended its regular-season conference winning streak to eight consecutive matches and earned its sixth straight victory since Sept. 13. During that span, the Bulldogs have outscored the opposition by a total of 22-1.
With Friday’s loss, VMI (4-9, 0-4 SoCon) suffered its fourth consecutive defeat and moved to 0-2 all-time against the Bulldogs.
Samford’s Malcanisha Kelley paced the Bulldogs’ offensive attack Friday and opened the scoring with a quick goal just 4:17 into the match. After tallying the game-winning score, Samford’s SoCon-leading goal-scorer also added her 10th tally of the season in the 16th minute to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 led.
With Kelley’s pair of goals scored, Samford’s junior native of Childersburg moved just one goal shy of tying both the school’s single-season goals record, as well as the Bulldogs’ career record.
Kelley has already scored 10 goals this season and boasts 25 in her career. Former Bulldog-great Marian Wagner currently holds the top spot in both single-season goals (11) and career goals scored (26).
Kaitlyn Orman scored Samford’s second goal of the evening in the 14th minute on a pretty one-timed running shot off a double-assist from Jermaine Seoposenwe and Alissa Hansen. The score was Orman’s second of the season, while the assist was Seoposenwe’s SoCon-leading 10th of the year. The helper also marked Hansen’s first of the 2015 campaign.
In the final 13 minutes of the first half, Samford extended its advantage to 5-0 with goals from Olivia Cole (33’) and Kinsey Sessions (41’).
Samford scored two goals in the second half of play and they came 33 seconds apart. At exactly 71:43, the Bulldogs’ Sara Smeltzer scored her second goal of the season to give Samford a 6-0 lead, and then at 72:16, true freshman Grace Packer notched the first score of her career on a shot from the left side.
Samford extended its consecutive shutout streak to five straight matches for a total of 493 minutes without allowing a goal.
The Bulldogs’ Anna Maddox started in goal on Friday and registered two saves en route to her third shutout of the season.
The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Sunday at 2 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs continue play in their three-match SoCon homestand against the UNCG Spartans in a SoCon showdown to be held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
VMI plays at Chattanooga on Sunday at 2 p.m. EDT.
Western Carolina 2, The Citadel 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina returned to the friendly confines of the Catamount Athletic Complex on Friday after a six-game road swing to pick up a 2-0 victory over the Citadel.
The Catamounts scored a goal in each half and earned their sixth shutout of the season. Western Carolina picked up goals by freshman Courtney Rosu and sophomore Chandler Arrowood.
Western Carolina spent most of the game on The Citadel's side of the field, keeping Bulldog goalie Kim Mora on the defensive most of the game.
Ten minutes into the game, Rosu scored her first goal of the season from a double pass from redshirt sophomore Kasey Cooke and freshman Sayres McKenna.
At the 77th minute, Cooke earned her second assist of the game when she found Arrowood, who sent the ball past the Bulldog goalkeeper.
Cooke earned her second and third assists of the season. McKenna's assist in the game was her fifth of the season.
Redshirt senior goalkeeper Lauren Martin got her second start of the season and earned her first win of the year, and first of her career, playing the complete game.
With the shutout win over The Citadel, Western Carolina has allowed just one goal at home this season in five games.
Western Carolina completes a two-game homestand when it hosts Mercer at 2 p.m. Sunday. This will be the Bears’ first trip to Cullowhee.
The Citadel will have a day off before traveling to Johnson City, Tennessee, on Sunday to face ETSU for a 2 p.m. SoCon contest.
UNCG 3, Chattanooga 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The UNCG women’s soccer team improved to 5-7-3 Friday night with a 3-0 win over Chattanooga (3-9-2) in Southern Conference action. Caylin Prillaman, Melanie Spensiero and Georgia Brown all tallied goals as the Spartans improved to 3-1-1 in league play. Chattanooga fell to 1-3-1 in SoCon action and was shut out for the sixth time this season.
The Spartans took a 1-0 lead when Candice Forbes sent a pass to Prillaman from the right side into the box in the 31st minute. Less than three minutes later, Spensiero gave UNCG a cushion when she scored on a free kick into the box that went past the Mocs’ goalkeeper.
Four minutes into the second half, play was stalled as heavy rain and lightning posed a threat. An hour and a half would pass before the two teams were able to take the field.
Upon returning to action, Brown scored her second goal of the season in the 65th minute to add insurance to the Spartans’ lead. The Spartans fired off 12 shots in the final 45 minutes of play while holding the Mocs to just six. Chloe Buehler made four saves in the half, while Jamie Phelps relieved her in goal for the final 14 minutes and recorded her first save of the season.
Friday’s win marks the fourth consecutive time the Spartans have shut out Chattanooga since 2011. UNCG improved to 16-3-1 all-time against UTC and 7-2 on the road.
The Spartans wrap up their four-game road stretch Sunday when they take on Samford at 3 p.m.
Chattanooga hosts VMI at 2 p.m. Sunday.
ETSU 1, Mercer 1 (2OT)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – With the rain pouring down at Summers-Taylor Stadium, the ETSU women's soccer team held Mercer to a 1-1 draw on Friday night.
A rain-filled first half saw both teams struggle to keep possession as neither team could produce any momentum the first 10 minutes. With lightning in the area, it was Mercer who struck first in the 13th minute. After midfielder Maddie Clark broke free down the right side of the field, she crossed it into the box, finding sophomore Valeria Bermeo, who slipped it past junior goalkeeper Jasmine Elliott to give the Bears (5-5-3, 2-1-1 SoCon) an early 1-0 lead.
From that point on it was all ETSU (8-4-1, 3-0-1 SoCon), who seemingly had the ball the rest of the half. That constant offensive pressure paid off when junior Molly Collinson scored her sixth goal of the season with the assist from senior Sarah Zadrazil. Zadrazil pushed the ball the through the middle of the Mercer defense, dishing the ball to Collinson on her right. Collinson proceeded to rocketed the ball around the Bears’ defense into the top left corner of the net to tie the game up.
Five minutes later, ETSU sophomore Paola Roversi blasted a shot off the crossbar and out of play.
It was a story of second-half missed chances for both ETSU and Mercer as each team had chances to score the game-winning goal. The best chance for ETSU came in the 85th minute when the Bucs were awarded a free kick right outside the penalty box. Freshman Emily McKerlie looked to drop the ball into the left corner of the net but Mercer goalkeeper Maggie Cropp was there for the save.
Mercer looked to win the game in the final minute as Clark raced down the left side and got off a shot that went wide left of the net to extend the game into overtime.
The best chance for either team in the first overtime came from Mercer, who saw Jamilah Tejan get a shot through the ETSU defense that went just left of the goal off a corner kick.
ETSU had the opportunity in the remaining seconds of the second overtime to send the fans who stuck it out through the rain home with a victory. Zadrazil raced down the field and got off a shot that went high into the air and was barely batted away by the Mercer goalkeeper as time expired.
ETSU is back in action on Sunday, Oct. 11, at 1 p.m. when it takes on the Bulldogs of The Citadel.
Mercer heads to Cullowhee, N.C., to take on Western Carolina on Sunday at 2 p.m.