College of Charleston
Elon
W. Soccer Vanquishes Elon for First CAA Win
10/4/2014 2:33:00 AM | Women's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's soccer team defeated Elon, 3-1, to earn the Cougars their first Colonial Athletic Association victory on a rainy Friday night at Patriots Point.
“I'm really proud of the players,” said head coach Christian Michner. “They did the work. We knew coming into this week we'd have to work hard because this league is never easy, and I'm really proud of their approach. Elon is a good team, and we're renewing the rivalry we had in the SoCon for so many years. We're excited about that and it certainly feels great to get the win.”
Freshman Mary Kate Bowers netted her fourth and fifth goals of the season and added an assist on classmate Tracey Webster's first career goal to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead in the match.
“We're ecstatic,” said Bowers, whose five-point evening hoists her into the top 10 in the league. “I'm so proud of my team, but running through our heads right now is maintaining this and moving it into Sunday. It was a great game, but our eyes are now on Sunday.”
The infant portion of the match flowed evenly from end to end with both sides creating chances in the early going. The Cougars became the more assertive team in the second 15-minute stretch and found success stringing passes together and maintaining possession.
In the 33rd minute, Bowers beat a pair of defenders in the bottom right corner of the field and gained access to the penalty area on a run parallel to the endline. As defenders crashed to her spot, she alertly slid a pass back to Webster who found space in the void Bowers' run created, and hammered a one-touch effort past the keeper and into the back of the net.
Just over two minutes later, Bowers initiated a virtually identical run from the same area of the field, but this time elected to have an attempt herself and fired a left-footed bullet across the goal mouth into the upper-left corner of the net.
The Cougars remained persistent on the attack and ended the first half with an 8-5 shot advantage but settled for the 2-0 lead at the intermission.
The second period saw Elon produce a heavy offensive in hopes of chipping into CofC's lead, ultimately leading to nine corner kicks, seven of which came in the second period. Elon chipped into CofC's shot advantage in the second half as well, with CofC finishing with a narrow 14-13 edge.
Charleston capitalized on Elon's commitment to the attack, however, when Bowers found space up the left side of the pitch in the 83rd minute and made a diagonal run towards the top left corner of the 18. After quickly halting her run and letting a trailing defender haplessly pass by her, Bowers made a decisive cut to switch the ball back to her right foot and ripped a shot from the top-left corner of the box, once again across the goal mouth and into the far-side upper corner of the net.
The three-goal edge wouldn't last long, however, as Elon finally converted on one of their nine corner kicks one minute and 22 seconds later. After the initial service was thumped away from the goal line, Marissa Russo lobbed a high-arching ball back towards the goal mouth where Susannah Anderson emerged from the scramble and ushered it across the goal line to cut the lead to 3-1.
The final minutes proved tense, but CofC ultimately weathered the Phoenix attack to close out the victory. Goalkeeper Lauren Killian finished the night with four saves.
Despite the rainy conditions, the Cougars were cheered on by an active, vivacious crowd, several members of which made the five-mile walk across the Ravenel Bridge from CofC's main campus as part of the Spirit Walk sponsored by Fleet Feet of Mt. Pleasant and Earth Fare.
“It was a great night and a great crowd,” said Michner. “We really appreciate the fans, and the men's soccer team coming out and supporting us too. We heard them for 90 minutes which was fantastic.”
The Cougars now face a quick turnaround before challenging perennial league frontrunner William and Mary in further CAA play on Sunday.
“It's a quick turnaround in league play,” said Michner. “We know William and Mary is a quality side; they knock the ball really well and are a top team in the league every year historically. We know we have our work cut out for us, but we'll be ready to lace them up again and have a go.”
“I'm excited because William and Mary is such a great team and I want to see how our team does,” added Bowers. “We'll come out tomorrow and jog, stretch and recuperate, and be mentally strong on Sunday.”
Kickoff between the Tribe and Cougars is set for 1 p.m. at Patriots Point.
Players Mentioned
