College of Charleston
Citadel
W. Soccer Downs Citadel; Advances to SoCon Tourney
10/25/2012 2:04:00 AM | Women's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's soccer team beat crosstown-rival the Citadel, 1-0, at Patriots Point on Wednesday evening to qualify for the Southern Conference Tournament. The Cougars earn the No. 7 seed and will play the opening round at No. 2-seed Samford on Sunday, Oct. 28.
“It was a great effort all night from our players,” said head coach Christian Michner. “They were excited about the game. We could have played at 8 a.m. this morning, because we were ready to go. I was really proud of the way we started, but I was a little disappointed we weren't able to close things out. We had plenty of chances to make it four or five or six nothing. We weren't able to capitalize and we will have to do that on Sunday at Samford.
“It was a typical cross-town match (against The Citadel). It's always great to be the best team in your city every year. It was an important win for us tonight and really propels us into the SoCon Tournament.”
CofC (6-11-1, 5-5-1 SoCon) scored early and held on with a complete defensive effort to earn the win despite being narrowly outshot, 17-18, in the contest.
The goal came just 1:37 into the match when the Cougars took advantage of a free kick deep in the attacking third. Kate Twohig (Charleston, S.C.) took the attempt from near the corner flag and Haley Hutchens (Irmo, S.C.) headed the ball through the crowd to an unmarked Maryam Buazza (Katy, Texas) who hammered the ball into the far-side netting.
Eli Sarasola (San Sebastian, Spain) was extremely prolific in the Cougar goal with seven key saves, many of which were with uncanny-athletic maneuvers on seemingly impossible shots. Her most memorable was perhaps when she stifled a point-blank shot on an indirect-kick awarded to the Citadel from six yards out.
True to its history, this 12th edition of the crosstown rivalry was extremely physical and drew 22 evenly-split fouls and three red cards after a physical altercation broke out on the field. The Cougars are now 11-1-0 all-time against the Bulldogs.
The Cougars will now prepare for their rematch against defending-champion Samford on Sunday. The teams will kick off from Birmingham, Ala., at 3 p.m. (ET). With a win, the Cougars would advance to the semifinals of the tournament, also hosted by Samford.
“We will regroup quickly,” said Michner. “We will get after it the next couple of days preparing for Samford. We know they are a very good team and defending champions, so it won't be an easy task. The work rate out of our players and their attitudes going forward – they are excited about it. We will make sure with the scout tape that we take a look at some things we need to be successful on Sunday. I couldn't be happier to be in the tournament this weekend.”
