College of Charleston
South Carolina State
Women?s Soccer Takes Down SC State
9/16/2015 3:07:00 AM | Women's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Behind a goal and assist from sophomore Mary Kate Bowers, the College of Charleston women's soccer team defeated South Carolina State, 2-1, Tuesday evening at Patriots Point.
“It was an evening where we created lots of chances to score and just didn't put the ball in the back of the net,” CofC Head Coach Christian Michner said. “We let them hang around the whole match because we gave them some decent opportunities on restarts and free kicks. In the second half, we had a little more composure on the ball and we were able to get behind them, which opened the game up for us. I'm proud of the way we played and we will need to bring this aggressive style into the weekend.”
The teams played to a scoreless first half with the Cougars holding a 6-1 shot advantage heading into the break. Bulldog keeper Haley Austin made great saves on breakaways from freshmen forward Jessica Schifer and Riley Narum to keep CofC off the board.
Junior forward Riley Narum got the Cougars on the board in the 54th minute with her team-leading third goal of the year that was set up by Bowers. Narum has now scored in back-to-back games for CofC and leads the team with seven points (3 goals, 1 assist) in 2015.
“Coming off of two losses from last weekend we knew we really needed to get a win tonight,” Narum said. “The first half was frustrating, we got some shots off but nothing was really connecting for us. In the second half, coach told us to keep calm and trust what we were doing. We were trying a new formation tonight so we knew coming into it things would be different but we found our rhythm in the second half.”
Bowers aggressive play throughout the night rewarded her in the 67th minute with her first goal of the season. Freshman Maddy Brill Edwards screamed down the right side and served a ball right to Bowers rushing through the middle of the box and buried a goal past Bulldog keeper Haley Austin.
“Coach Chao and I for the last two weeks have been really working in 1-on-1's on getting to end line and serving, which is basically how I've gotten both assists these past two games and the goal tonight. It is very gratifying to see hard work is paying off but this is just the beginning. We have a lot of great leadership on this team and I'm confident we will continue to put each other in positions to succeed.”
Bowers goal would prove to be the game-winner as the Bulldogs would find the back of the net on a set piece in the 86th minute to bring to score to 2-1. Brandy Vaca found the back of the net for the first time this year after a rebound in the box made its way through the CofC defense off of a free kick from Mahogany Fisher.
The Cougars defense, lead by defenders Claire Newman, Rio Speller Drews and Meredith Tunney along with 63 shutout minutes from junior goalkeeper Lauren Killian, limited South Carolina State to only two shot attempts the entire night.
“It's going to be a battle, it always is when you're facing crosstown rivals like we are this weekend,” Michner said. “Against Charleston Southern we play for the Silver Cup, which is the trophy College of Charleston has had in our possession for many years. We know Charleston Southern will be primed and ready to go but and we will be ready to fire away Friday afternoon.”
The Cougars will wrap up non-conference play this weekend with matchups against inter-city rivals The Citadel and Charleston Southern. CofC will travel to Charleston Southern on Friday afternoon for the annual Silver Cup at 4 p.m. and will host The Citadel on Sunday afternoon. Colonial Athletic Association play will begin the following weekend against Delaware on Sept. 25.
