College of Charleston
James Madison
Late Goal Spoils Senior Day for Women?s Soccer
10/18/2015 7:48:00 PM | Women's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – After being shutout for the fourth consecutive time, the College of Charleston women's soccer team fell to James Madison 1-0 Sunday afternoon at Patriots point.
“I thought we played well today against a very tough opponent in JMU,” said head coach Christian Michner. “Senior day is always an emotional game so we were driven as a squad to put out the best effort for our seniors. Both teams I thought had good chances to score and created multiple opportunities to put in the back of the net. It ultimately could have been 2-2 but we were a little unlucky to not catch some breaks.”
The Cougars (8-8-1, 2-5-1 CAA) celebrated the careers of seniors Allison Sender, Claire Newman, Michaela Herrmann, Nicole Koretsky, Jane Vardzel, and Hope Walker prior to the match.
Both teams had multiple scoring opportunities in the first half with JMU heading into the break with a slight 7-6 shot advantage. Sarah Blakely just missed a shot that hit the side bar with seven seconds left that could have given the Cougars the advantage.
“We hit the post and missed a wide-open chance that could have put us up 2-0. I am really proud of my team and our effort. The team played well today and sometimes the ball bounces your way and sometimes it doesn't. We can't hang out head because we have to prepare for a great UNCW team next week.”
In the second half, both squads buckled down defensively, limiting each other to just seven total shots. James Madison made one of their four-second half shots count in the 79th minute. Jennie Scroba found the back of the net for the first time all season to give JMU a 1- lead off of an assist from Alyssa Zurlo.
Eight different Cougars got off a shot but only Sarah Blakely took more than one throughout the match. Rio Speller-Drews and Blakely were the only players to get a shot on goal. Goalkeeper Lauren Killian, who pitched a shutout on Friday against Towson, made five saves in the loss.
“We have defended really well all season. We were scoring goals in bunches there for a while but we have sort of hit a cold spell. Good attacking teams like us don't stay in those spells for long; it's just a matter of getting out of this slump. We will work on some attacking and finishing goals this week in practice. If you don't score, you don't' win.”
The Cougars will look to rebound in their last regular-season match on Sunday, Oct. 25 at UNCW.
