College of Charleston
Drexel
CofC W. Soccer Suffers 4-1 Loss on Senior Day
10/27/2013 8:20:00 PM | Women's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's soccer team suffered a 4-1 loss on its Senior Day in the final game of the season against Drexel at Patriots Point on Sunday afternoon.
CofC (2-14-1, 0-7-1 CAA) dug itself into a four-goal hole after a sluggish start to the contest, but reinserted itself to arguably become the better team, especially in the second half. Jade Reynolds (Oxon, England) scored her first of the season just before the half after she collected a long free-kick sent into the box by Sarah Cardamone (Downingtown, Pa.), but the deficit was too much to overcome.
The loss is not a fair summation of the six Cougars who celebrated their Senior Day prior to the match – Jena Mohr, Jade Reynolds, McCallie Jones, Victoria Fichman, Sarah Cardamone and Eli Sarasola. Cardamone has another season left in her career thanks to a redshirted season, but elected to celebrate Senior Day with the class she's spent the last four seasons with.
“Senior day can always be pretty emotional,” said head coach Christian Michner. “We've had a very important senior class that leaves us today. Starting the game on fire is extremely important and we didn't. We started out a little bit hesitant and we knew Drexel was a good team fighting for their playoff lives and we just didn't have it going for us for the first 45 minutes. We were four goals down when we started to wake up.”
All four of Drexel's goals came in the first 30 minutes of the match, the first in the sixth minute when the Cougars only partially cleared a corner kick and the ball found its way back into the box for Lauren Stollar who booted it into the lower left corner.
Their next two goals came on balls which starting goalkeeper Lauren Killian (Blythewood, S.C.) made diving saves on initially, but both saves resulted in fortuitous Drexel rebounds which they capitalized on.
The fourth goal came on a fancy bit of dribbling along the endline by Shyanne Kimbrough which triggered Nicolette Wilkins free inside the six-yard box and she scored across the goal mouth at a sharp angle.
The Cougars were much more possessive and attack oriented in the second period, but their chances wouldn't yield anything on the scoreboard.
Killian was one of three goalkeepers to see action along with Taylor Avery (Clifton, Va.) and Jena Mohr (Greenville, S.C.). The group combined for five saves.
Thanks to a 7-2 second-half shot advantage, the Cougars ended the contest outshooting the Dragons 12-11.
“We changed things only slightly tactically in the second half,” said Michner, “but really we just put players in places that we knew they'd work hard. We challenged Drexel for every single ball and I give credit to my players for coming out as a completely different side in the second half. We were the better team in the second half and were unlucky not to score a couple, frankly. But when you go into the break down 4-1, you're always chasing the game.
“I'll miss coaching this group and this senior class but I think we've got a lot to look forward to in the future.”
Players Mentioned
