Sunday, October 4
Little Rock Beats League-Leading Georgia State, 3-0
LITTLE ROCK – Caitlyn Eddy had a goal and an assist, Claire Palmer and Fali Garuba picked up goals and Sara Small earned her second consecutive shutout as the Little Rock soccer team defeated league-leading Georgia State 3-0 at the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex on Sunday afternoon.
Eddy got her goal in the final minute of the first half, breaking a scoreless tie for good. Small earned four saves as the Trojans (6-5-4, 1-1-2 Sun Belt Conference) controlled the contest against the Panthers (8-2-3, 2-1-1) throughout.
The victory was Little Rock's first of the conference season, and the team has now taken a point from three of its four league games. Sunday's win broke a streak of four consecutive overtime games played by the Trojans. Georgia State suffered just its second loss of the entire season in Little Rock.
Eddy's goal came with 36 seconds left in the first half. Taking a pass from her right side, she had time to settle the ball down, wind up and shoot. Her attempt sailed to the upper right hand corner of the net, squeezing past Georgia State goalie Christa Fox for the 1-0 Little Rock lead.
That goal ended a fairly even first half, one that saw the teams even at six shots apiece and two saves each. Georgia State had a narrow 2-1 edge in corner kicks, but none of the three corners amounted to any quality chances.
The second half saw two more Little Rock goals that put the contest out of reach for the visitors. With Eddy taking a corner kick in the 55th minute, the ball bounced off Quin Wilkes and fell to Palmer. The freshmen knocked the ball past into an open net, doubling the Trojans' leading.
With just 11 minutes remaining, the Trojans slammed the door on any potential Panthers comeback. Shannon Shields took one of her long throw-ins from the left side of the field, and the ball bounced off the turf without being touched. Garuba was there for the redirection after the bounce, though, heading the ball up and over the Panthers and into the net for the third goal of the afternoon.
The Trojan defense was excellent for the duration, allowing just eight total shots and only four on goal. Small saved all four of those attempts including shots on three Panther breakaways.
Small is now on a shutout streak that spans 225 minutes, stretching back to the second half of the Appalachian State game on Sept. 27.
With the game firmly in control, the Trojans used nine players off the bench. Kayla Bell, Liz Berkeley, Logan Strange, Arola Aparicio, Nora Hellmers, Madi Motil, Kayla Turner, Sairra Tucker and Jacqueline Borucki all played Sunday with Borucki seeing 51 total minutes as a sub.
Four Trojans still managed to play all 90 minutes: Small, Hali Long, Bailey Fithian and Mikayla Uyokpeyi.
Little Rock remains at the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex next weekend, closing out the home schedule with games against ULM on Friday and Louisiana on Sunday.
Eagles Down Arkansas State Behind Two Goals from Wittick
JONESBORO, Ark. - The Georgia Southern women’s soccer team tallied their second
conference win on Sunday against Arkansas State, bringing their record to 2-1-1 in the Sun Belt. The Eagles topped the Red Wolves 3-1, with Jennifer Wittick leading the team with two goals to total nine goals this season. Melinda Lukas also put one in for the Eagles to mark her second of the season, while Angelica Wallerstedt added a pair of assists.
MATCH FACTS
Georgia Southern- 5-6-2 (2-1-1)
Arkansas State- 2-10-1 (0-3-1)
SCORING
22’ - GS - Jennifer Wittick scored the first goal of the game off of a long pass from Angelica Wallerstedt and volleyed it over the goalie
26’ - GS - Melinda Lukas volleyed the ball off a cross from Angelica Wallerstedt on her first touch
54’ - GS - Jennifer Wittick buried her second goal of the game, heading it in after Nora El-Shami’s corner kick
70’ - ASU - Sutton Wester brought it to a two-point game after scoring off of a throw in from Kassie Flynn and an assist from Jordan Adams
NOTES
- Jennifer Wittick added two goals to total a team-high nine goals this season
- Angelica Wallerstedt posted a game-high two assists
- Nora El-Shami’s assist puts her at 23 points this season (six goals, 11 assists) to lead the team
- Georgia Southern tallied 10 shots on goal compared to ASU’s five, with neither committing offsides
WHAT COACH BRIAN DUNLEAVY SAID
“It's a good road win for us; we had to work hard defensively. It wasn't the prettiest of games— it looked very much like two teams who had long overtime games on Friday night. Arkansas State puts a lot of pressure on teams playing longer balls. They have a long throw, and they're good on set pieces. So we had to win a lot of balls in the air. Ultimately we gave up a clean sheet because of it. Other than that one opportunity, we did well against it. In possession we were very effective; we created chances and scored three excellent goals. It was a good weekend overall, and now we turn our attention to preparing for a really strong Georgia State team next Sunday."
NEXT UP
The Eagles face rival Georgia State next Sunday, Oct. 11, who remain undefeated in conference play. The game is at 1 p.m. at Eagle Field and welcomes Georgia Southern graduates to attend for Alumni Day.
Troy Blanks UL Lafayette
LAFAYETTE, Louisiana – The Troy soccer team defeated UL Lafayette 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at the Ragin’ Cajuns Soccer Facility.
Robyn-Anne Whittaker scored the go-ahead goal in the 66th minute and gave Troy (9-3, 2-1 Sun Belt) a 1-0 victory. Alissa Jones found Whittaker, who took the feed down the left side, beat the keeper and placed the ball into the left corner of the goal for her first collegiate career goal.
“We couldn't be any more pleased with the game,” Jason Hamilton said. “It was the best game this team has played in the past two years since I've gotten here. We completed 346 of 448 attempted passes and when you play like that and are able to maintain possession in such a way, it makes the game easy. We will still take things away from this game to improve on as UL Lafayette is a good opponent that made it very tough at the end.”
The Trojans fired 16 shots in the match – 10 in the first half – and eight were on target. Whittaker led all players with three shots; Jones, Chelsey Williams and Annabell Simpson had two shots and seven different Trojans had one shot in the match.
UL Lafayette (7-6-1, 1-3 Sun Belt) was held to just five shots the whole match and three landed on goal. The Ragin’ Cajuns only had two shots for 82 minutes of play and fired three in the final eight minutes.
Mikki Lewis (7-3) recorded her fifth shutout of the season and the 16th of her career Lewis also had three saves in the match.
Troy will return home on Friday to face Texas State at 7 p.m. at the Troy Soccer Complex.
Mountaineers Tame Bobcats in Dominating Fashion
BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University women’s soccer played its third rainy home match in a row in Sunday versus Texas State at Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex. The Mountaineers (6-3-3) snapped the Bobcats (8-3) league-high seven-match winning streak with a dominating 5-0 victory.
“I am so proud of everyone. They were all outstanding today,” said head coach Sarah Strickland. “That was the best I have ever seen our team play. We did a great job capitalizing on chances and finishing them off. I am very proud of the group as a whole.”
The Mountaineers were in control of the from the early stages of the game. Sam Childress (Kernersville, N.C./East Forsyth) started the scoring for the Apps in the 15th minute. Jane Cline (Cornelius, N.C./Charlotte Catholic) found Childress who slotted the opening goal into the right side of net.
Minutes before the break, Merlin Beckwith (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Adams) passed to Sarah Moon (Cornelius, N.C./W.A. Hough) at the top of the eighteen-yard box. Moon took a touch and fired a shot towards the bottom-left corner. The shot bounced off the post and into the goal. It was Moon’s first career goal.
The Bobcats nearly got a goal back a minute later, but Megan Roberson (Kernersville, N.C./East Forsyth) made one of her three saves in the first half.
The Mountaineers quickly picked up where they left off in the first half. Appalachian was awarded a free kick 25-yards out from goal. Beckwith stepped up and launched a shot that sailed into the top-left corner of the goal past the outstretched arm of the Bobcat goalie.
Seven minutes later, Lindsey Tully (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Catholic) played a long pass the Cline. Cline beat the keeper on the dribble and was able to slot the ball into the empty net. The Apps final goal came in the 80th minute when Kat Greer (Cayce, S.C./Brookland Cayce) found Kate Ward (Atlanta, Ga. (St. Pius X Catholic) in the box. Ward finished into the right side of the net. The goal was Ward’s first of the year.
All 22 fit and eligible Mountaineers saw action during the game. The five goals were the most scored by the Apps since October 25, 2013 when they scored nine against The Citadel.
“Texas State is a very good team. They were on a seven-match win streak,” said Strickland. “Sometimes the adversity of travel and time changes can affect your game-day routine and it can be hard to adjust. No discredit to Texas State, I just think we played really well.”
The Mountaineers start a four-match road trip on Friday at defending champion South Alabama. Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m.
South Alabama Knocks Off Warhawks in Double-Overtime, 3-2
MONROE, La. - Freshman Jemma Purfield (Cottingham, England) scored with 46 seconds left in double overtime to give the University of South Alabama soccer team a 3-2 victory over Louisiana-Monroe Sunday afternoon at the ULM Soccer Complex.
Junior Monique Autmon (Ocean Springs, Miss.) and sophomore Chardé Hannah (Tupelo, Miss.) also scored for the Jaguars who stayed unbeaten in Sun Belt Conference play at 3-0 and 9-2-1 overall. The Warhawks drop their fourth straight to fall to 6-8-1 and 0-4.
"I want to congratulate Louisiana-Monroe on an extremely well-played game," USA head coach Graham Winkworth said. "That's is a very heart-breaking result for them in a game they deserved to get something from. All credit to Coach (Roberto) Mazza and his girls, because they gave everything they had today and were very unfortunate.
"It was a game where we had plenty of chances to win in regulation, but failed to be clinical in both penalty areas. It was very similar to Friday night, and if we're going to continue to challenge for championships and improve our national ranking, then we need to be more clinical in the attacking penalty area."
South Alabama fell victim to another late goal - almost identical to Friday's contest at Louisiana-Lafayette - and was forced to win it in overtime. UL Monroe's Cke'Lana Caesar headed in a cross from Antonia Land at the 84:32 mark to knot the score at 2-2.
"We have to make sure we're switched on for 90 minutes," Winkworth said. "We switched off on a set piece, just like Friday night, so we have to stay focused defending our set pieces. We have to improve in that area for sure."
The Jags outshot the Warhawks 5-1 in the 19-plus minutes after regulation, and put two of their first four shots in overtime on frame before Purfield took a through-ball from sophomore Steffi Hardy (Workington, England) and slotted it home.
"We didn't come here to try and get a tie - I'm not a firm believer in playing for ties - so in overtime we turned up the intensity a notch and were patient because it took 119 minutes or so to get the winner," Winkworth said. "Steffi played a nice ball in and Jemma got on the end of it and it was a very composed finish."
The shots were 29-9 overall in favor of USA, but only 13 of the Jaguars' attempts found the target. ULM was much more efficient offensively, putting eight of its nine shots on net.
"They were very efficient in their forward play, and like I said, they were very unlucky because even though the shot count says 29-9, the shots that really count are the ones that work the goalkeepers, and we only led that 13-8, which is far closer. If we're going to be successful, we need to make sure that we're limiting the scoring opportunities for our opponents and not getting shots on our goal, and we need to make sure we hit the frame when we're going forward as well. These are two areas that we must focus on in preparation for a very tough week at home coming up."
Autmon scored the only goal of the first half in the 21st minute, her second of the season from junior Emily Farrell (Burnley, England). ULM's Kelley O'Dwyer tied the match just over five minutes into the second period at 50:07, then Hannah converted a breakaway in the 65th minute to put the Jags back on top.
Sophomore Courtney Baum (Cumming, Ga.), making her first start in net since Sept. 20 at Southern Miss, allowed both goals and made six saves for the Jags. Brooke-Lynn Scroggins had 10 saves for the Warhawks.
South Alabama returns home this weekend, hosting Appalachian State Friday night at 7 p.m., and Texas State Sunday at 1 p.m.