MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's
soccer team opened its regular season campaign with a 2-1 loss to UNC Charlotte
at Patriots Point on Saturday evening.
The Cougars were the more possessive and perhaps better team
for most of the match but back-to-back UNCC second-half goals wiped away the
Cougars' first-half lead.
“I'm pleased with the effort tonight,” said head coach
Christian Michner. “Our girls came out and battled for 90 minutes and really
wanted the result. Certainly we're disappointed in losing the match. Charlotte
is a very good team and is very well coached.
“They weren't necessarily concerned with whether their play
was pretty or not. They wanted to be effective and if we could take something
away from the match, it'd be that. We need to not worry about making a pretty
pass or starting an attractive run, but instead focus on being effective and
consistent.”
The Cougars got off to a bit of a slow start and struggled
to connect passes in the early minutes. The team settled in, however, and
played a crisper brand of soccer through the rest of the first half to gain and
maintain possessions in the middle and offensive thirds of the field.
With just over a minute remaining in the first half, the
Cougars broke the scoreless draw with Sarah Cardamone's (Downingtown, Pa.)
first goal of the season. Maryam Buazza (Katy, Texas) played a long ball over the 49er
defense which fell to Cardamone who was one-on-one with the keeper. Cardamone
was able to coral the ball away from the charging keeper and rolled it into the
back of the net.
The Cougars outshot UNCC, 7-4, in the first 45 minutes. CofC
ended the match with a 12-10 advantage in shots and put seven on the frame. The
Cougars also produced five corner kicks opposed to UNCC's two.
UNCC came out more aggressively in a physically contested
second half which brought on 13 total fouls in the 45 minutes.
In the 69th minute, Taylor Rovito played a ball
across the top of the 18-yard box where Amanda Jones tucked it in to the bottom
right-hand corner to equalize the match.
Five minutes later, Rovito again picked up an assist on UNCC's
go-ahead goal, this time threading a pass through the left side of the field to
Sara Trexler who gathered it in stride and scored to the far-side netting.
In the dying minutes of the match, the Cougars produced
three consecutive corner-kick chances but none were fruitful as the clock
ultimately expired and finalized the 2-1 score.
The Cougars return to action when they head to Conway, S.C.,
to take on Western Michigan on Friday, Aug. 24 at 5 p.m. as part of the Coastal
Carolina Tournament.
