College of Charleston
Kent State
CofC W. Soccer Drops 1-0 Decision to Kent State
9/8/2013 9:49:00 PM | Women's Soccer
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's soccer team was unable to overcome a first-half Kent State goal as the Cougars fell, 1-0, to the Golden Flashes to wrap up the College of Charleston Cup at Patriots Point on Sunday afternoon.
Despite the loss, CofC (2-4 overall) claims the tournament crown through a convoluted tie-breaker scenario. All four teams (CofC, Kent State, Virginia Commonwealth and Coastal Carolina) went 1-1 in tournament play with a goal differential of (+/-) zero. CofC and VCU tied for the most goals scored (3) in the tournament, and CofC beat VCU head-to-head on Friday night.
CofC's Eli Sarasola (San Sebastian, Spain), McCallie Jones (Charlotte, N.C.) and Nicole Koretsky (Manalapan, N.J.) were all-tournament selections.
The only goal in Sunday's match came in the 21st minute when Kent State's Jaclyn Dutton played a clever ball over the top of the Cougar defense and onto the boot of Stephanie Haugh. Haugh took one touch and then took a wonder-strike on the half volley which rocketed across the goal mouth and into the side netting.
“Not our best performance,” said head coach Christian Michner. “You never fault the effort of the players but it has to be consistent for 90 minutes. It wasn't until we went down by a goal that we felt a sense of peril that we might lose the game. The players really stepped up and started to take over the match, but in soccer it's tough to score goals and we weren't able to put the ball in the back of the net and one goal decided it today.”
As Michner mentioned, surrendering the goal instilled a sense of urgency in his squad and the Cougars began to dictate the match for the rest of the period. Despite that effort, CofC went to the locker room down a goal and behind, 8-5, in shot attempts. Sarasola made three first-half saves.
Taylor Avery (Clifton, Va.) made her 2013 debut in goal to start the second half and made two saves while not allowing a goal. She replaced Sarasola who came out in the second half dressed as a positional player. Sarasola was not called into the game, but could be an addition to the injury-shortened bench as the season wears on.
“We're always looking for an advantage,” said Michner. “We have a great goalkeeper corps and Taylor [Avery] came on and did an excellent job in the second half. We know Eli [Sarasola] has good ability in the field and could help us in the field. We're willing to do whatever it takes to win. Certainly from the coaching staff's perspective, we look for all options and availabilities in our players.”
A challenging week lies ahead for the Cougars who will look to bounce back on the road against a pair of SEC opponents. The Cougars will challenge Auburn on Friday, Sept 13 and face Georgia on Sunday, Sept. 15.
“We face two great teams in Auburn and Georgia,” said Michner. “Certainly playing on the road won't be easy. But we look forward to playing in these matches – two of the biggest teams in the country. Our team won't have any lack of desire or ability to be pumped up for those matches. We'll certainly be ready with a week of training ahead of us and be ready to go against Auburn on Friday night.”
All-tournament team
Fia Jonsson – Coastal Carolina
Riley Johnson – Coastal Carolina
Morgan Mah – Kent State
Stephanie Haugh – Kent State
Katherine Lawrence – Kent State
Taryn Cressy – VCU
Courtney Conrad – VCU
Maren Johansen – VCU
McCallie Jones – CofC
Eli Sarasola – CofC
Nicole Koretsky – CofC
Players Mentioned
