Friday, September 11
Mountaineers Edge Panthers, 1-0
BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University women's soccer handed High Point University its first loss of the 2015 season with its 1-0 home victory on Friday night.
"I thought we did really well. Morgan Mosack had a great header that was blocked," said head coach Sarah Strickland. "We created a lot of chances. We stayed together as a unit. We were really battling and fighting in the midfield. Girls stepped in and performed well."
The Apps and Panthers battled through a back and forth first half with chances for both sides. The Apps best chance came in the final minute of the first half. Mosack got on the end of a cross and headed it with pace. The shot had the goalkeeper beat but was blocked by the last Panther defender.
The Mountaineers came out firing in the second half. 11 minutes after the restart, Merlin Beckwith joined the attack from the back line and slotted a pass to Sam Childress. Childress calmly finished in the bottom right corner of the net for her second goal of the season.
The Panthers kept the pressure on the Mountaineers looking for a tying goal but were never able to find the back of the net.
Strickland was pleased at how her team played against tough competition.
"High Point is a great team. They were undefeated before today and beat some really good teams. They are a very well respected team that went to the NCAA tournament last season. For us this is a big win and its a win that will help us for Sunday's game against Marshall as well as our Sun Belt season."
The Mountaineers are back in action on Sunday at home when they take on Marshall. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
Pair of Hat Tricks Lead Georgia Southern Past Alabama State
MONTGOMERY, ALA. – Georgia Southern delivered its highest offense in more than a decade on Friday night in a 10-2 win over Alabama State. The Eagles got a pair of hat tricks, breaking a run of 259 matches without a hat trick scorer. Jennifer Wittick got hers first and was joined by Nora El-Shami ten minutes later when she bagged her third goal.
MATCH FACTS
Georgia Southern (3-3-1) – 10
Alabama State (0-5-1) - 2
SCORING
15' – GS – Jennifer Wittick heads home a corner kick from Nora El-Shami.
18' – GS – Jennifer Wittick gets on the end of a Nora El-Shami pass down the right side of the box.
19' – GS – Nora El-Shami pushes a rebounded shot by Jennifer Wittick home in the danger area.
19' – GS – Nora El-Shami scores 27 seconds after her first goal with a 25-yard blast.
44' – GS – Hallie Huff gets her first collegiate goal of assists by Taylor Burns and Jessica Scales when the ball is crossed in the box.
46' – ALA ST – Shelbi Vienna-Hallam scores her first goal of the season off Shyann Cordova's assist inside the box.
49' – GS – Jennifer Wittick scores her seventh of the season and third of the night, this time from the penalty spot
60' – GS – Melinda Lukas dribbles around defenders for her third goal of the season, an unassisted effort.
60' – GS – Nora El-Shami got her third goal of the night just 21 seconds after the goal by Lukas. El-Shami dribbles past defenders in the box and gets the assist from Renee Nance.
70' – GS – Jessica Scales scores her second goal of the year when she pushes home a deflected shot by Taylor Burns in the danger area.
79' – ALA ST – Ally Murphy got the second of the night for Alabama State, this time off a corner kick by Aalyah Lewis.
85' – GS – Jessica Scales scores her second goal of the night, this time off the breakaway. Hallie Huff fed the ball forward for Scales on the break.
NOTES
- It was the first time that two Georgia Southern student-athletes scored hat tricks in the same match.
- Friday's match was the third time Georgia Southern has scored in double figures and the first time since 1998. The other matches were at Jacksonville (10-4-1995 | 13-1) and at Chattanooga (9-27-1998 | 11-0)
- Jennifer Wittick leads the Eagles with seven goals. Last year El-Shami led the team with seven for the season.
- Nora El-Shami has five goals and nine assists for 19 points. That total is just three off her 2014 total of 21. She also has 21 career goals which ties for sixth in school history.
WHAT COACH BRIAN DUNLEAVY SAID
On the offensive performance
"Obviously a great offensive performance tonight, Jenn (Wittick) and Nora (El-Shami) have been outstanding thus far; they're in really good form. The team has done well in keeping possession, getting crosses into dangerous areas and the movement off the ball has been dynamic. We've proven that we can score goals in a variety of ways, it's been very enjoyable to watch.
Panthers Remain Undefeated as Fox Gets Third Shutout
ATLANTA- Christa Fox had her third shutout in goal as Georgia State topped Alabama A&M, 3-0 Friday in Huntsville, Ala. For GSU, it marks the fourth shutout of the young season.
Georgia State remained unbeaten with five wins for the season, the only Sun Belt team to remain undefeated. The Panthers are currently 5-0-1 for the season.
Fox had two saves in this shutout, moving her up to 10th-most shutouts in Panther history.
The Panthers scored early in Huntsville, with Ashley Nagy having the first goal of the game within the first 14 minutes of the match. This is her third goal of the season.
Following a lightning delay, freshman Caitlin Ray scored off a corner kick from Jenna Moore to push the score at 2-0 at the halftime break. This is Ray’s second career goal.
Coming just after the second-half started, Suzanne Arafa scored a goal with an assist from Nagy. Arafa leads the Panthers in goals this season with four.
The team continues to outshoot their opponents, having 23 shots, including 17 on goal, for Alabama A&M’s two. Georgia State now has 102 shots attempted this season. The high-powered attack has produced 17 goals, just under 3 per game this year.
“Two unbelievable saves from Christa Fox helped us stay in the game and secure another shutout. We saw a tremendous effort from the girls on the field today,” head coach Derek Leader said about the win.
Georgia State plays host to Western Kentucky this Sunday for a 1 p.m. match in Panthersville, Parking and admission are free.
Cajuns and UTSA Play to a 2-2 Double-Overtime Draw
WACO, Texas -- The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns soccer team and the UTSA Roadrunners went to two overtimes but subsequently ended in a 2-2 tie at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field on Friday afternoon.
The tie brought the Cajuns' record to 4-2-1, extending their unbeaten streak to four matches.
UTSA jumped out to an early lead just 58 seconds in, but Louisiana evened the match at 1-1 in the ninth minute courtesy of a score from junior midfielder Kimberly Grasso on a pass from junior forward Yazmin Montoya. The goal was Grasso's third this season, a team high. Montoya's assist was her fourth on the season, also a team best. For her career, Montoya moved into sole possession of second place in points (51) and assists (11) in Ragin' Cajuns history.
The 39-minute mark of the match lifted to the Cajuns ahead, 2-1 when junior Cassandra Reyes set up senior Elizabeth Manuel for a one-on-one with the goalie inside the box for a score, the first assist and goal for both players this season.
UTSA came through with the match's equalizer with a 30-yard shot from the left wing in the 52nd minute pull even at 2-2.
The two overtimes saw just eight shot attempts for both squads, five for Louisiana (all in the second overtime) and three for UTSA.
"The girls played hard on the road and we let a win get away from us," Louisiana head coach Scot Wieland said. "With that said, we created some great opportunities and we battled for 110 minutes. We also learned some things that will make us better once we dive into the conference schedule."
The Cajuns outshot the Roadrunners 18-15, including 10-9 in shots on-goal.
Senior goalkeeper Lindsay Stocks (0-0-1) got the nod between the pipes, saving seven shots in 110 minutes.
The Cajuns will conclude their schedule in the Baylor University Tournament this Sunday, September 13 for a 1 p.m. kickoff with Northern Illinois at the Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field.
A-State Falls to Idaho
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (9/11/15) – The Arkansas State women’s soccer suffered a 2-0 setback against Idaho Friday at the Mike Soccer Complex in Memphis, Tenn., Friday afternoon.
The Vandals struck first, with a pair goals in the first half in the 16th and 24th minutes. Alyssa Lloyd scored first on a shot flicked into the box by Clara Gomez and then headed the ball into the night for the early lead.
Olivia Baggerly scored the second goal when she collected a ball in front of the goal and put it away into the back left corner to make it a two-goal deficit for the Red Wolves.
A-State had chances in the first half to strike, including a free kick by Katherine Padgett that was stopped by Amanda Poertner. Jacqueline Greer also had a header near the end of the first half that just missed its mark.
Sophomore goalkeeper Alexis Philippe made two saves to keep the Red Wolves down two goals. Her first came off a corner kick that she poked away into the box, but Idaho was able to collect it and fire it back in on target, but Philippe was there to save it up onto the cross bar and out of danger.
She picked up two more saves later in the half on back-to-back shots by the Vandals, including one she was able to stop while laying on the ground after making an initial diving save.
Philippe added to her amazing opening half by making two more saves in the 54th minute. Idaho was also awarded a penalty kick in the 55th minute, but the attempt by Elexis Schlossarek sailed high.
For the Red Wolves, Bailey Reed led the way with two shots, while Katherine Padgett and Jacqueline Greer each had a shot on goal. Philippe finished the night with seven saves.
SFA Gets By ULM, 1-0
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – A goal in the fourth minute stood as the lone tally for Stephen F. Austin as it held on to a 1-0 result over the ULM soccer program on Friday evening under the lights at the SFA Soccer Field.
The Ladyjacks, who have won four consecutive Southland Conference regular season titles and were picked to win the league again this year in the SLC Preseason Polls, scored on a shot off a rebound. Rachel Owens was able to clean-up a shot off the keeper inside the six-yard box. Chantal Curry was credited with the assist.
“SFA is the best team we’ve played all season. We conceded a soft goal in the first five minutes and after that we settled into the game,” said ULM head coach Roberto Mazza. “There weren’t many shots on goal for either team tonight so there were limited opportunities.”
For the game, SFA held a slight 5-4 edge in shots on goal, but ULM (3-4-1) registered a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks. The Warhawks now hold a 57-35 disparity against all opponents this season in corner kicks.
“I liked the fact that we were very organized from front to back. We did a great job of getting stuck in and we didn’t give them any big opportunities to stretch the lead,” Mazza said. “I would consider SFA to be a top-level team in our league and this gives us confidence moving forward.”
Senior Karlea Fehr fired a team-high five shots with a couple on net. Senior Kelley O’Dwyer, sophomore Danielle Sabathe and juniors Mary Ashton Lembo, and Nancy Kirk also recorded shots in the game.
Lembo, junior Jenna Pillon, freshman Kelsey Dazalla and junior Whitney Tuckfield continued their streaks of starting game this season. Tuckfield, O’Dwyer, Lembo and Dazalla all played the full 90 minutes in the contest.
In net, Lillie Ehlert (1-4) picked up the win after making four saves. Freshman Julia Idalis Gonzalez (2-2-1) also made four stops for the Warhawks.
ULM will wrap up the weekend at home on Sunday when it plays Grambling State at 1:00 p.m. at the ULM Soccer Complex. Follow the ULM soccer program on twitter, @ULM_Soccer, for live in-game updates of every game this season.