College of Charleston
The Citadel
Women?s Soccer Wins Third Straight in Rout of The Citadel
9/20/2015 9:53:00 PM | Women's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Behind a season-high five goals and 24 shots, the College of Charleston women's soccer team won their third straight match after routing The Citadel 5-0 Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point.
The College (6-3) is off to its best start to a season since they began the 2009 campaign 7-3-1. The Cougars have swept three in-state rivals and recorded two shutouts this week including a 2-1 win over South Carolina State on Tuesday, a 1-0 shutout over Charleston Southern on Friday, and today's victory of The Citadel.
“It is always tough playing a rival, let alone two in one weekend,” said head coach Christian Michner. “These games are always tough and Coach Winch made it tough for us at some points for us but our relentless attack proved to be to much for them. In the end we have a lot of great players and we were able to put some really nice goals in the back of the net today.”
Sophomore forward Mary Kate Bowers wasted no time getting the Cougars on the scoreboard when she flew past the Citadel defense and buried her second goal of the season less than thirty seconds into the match. CofC set season-high's for both shots (24) and shots on goal (15) against The Citadel on Sunday.
25 minutes into the first half, junior forward Alexa Gray received a perfect pass from Michaela Herrmann on right side of the box and beat the keeper for her first goal to make the score 2-0 Cougars. The CofC defense held the Bulldogs to just four first half shots while the Cougars tallied 11.
“It was really exciting to score my first goal but overall it takes all 32 of us to get these wins,” said Gray. “One of our strength's is the amount of depth we have on our team and today we got to give a lot of people chances to prove themselves, which will benefit us in the future.”
The College opened up the second half with many shot opportunities but nothing finding the back of the net until freshmen Raymara Barreto scored two goals in a span of five minutes. In the 73rd minute, Alexa Gray drew the defense to the right side of the box and gave up the ball to Barreto screaming down the middle of the box and put the ball lower right post to give CofC a 3-0 lead. She would make it 4-0 in the 78th minute after Hannah Huizenga set up Barreto's second multi-goal game of the season.
“I think we came out in the second half way more positive and working harder for the 50/50 balls, said Barreto. “We were able to play a lot of different players today, which will really improve our confidence leading into conference play this weekend.”
With just under six minutes remaining in the game, the Cougar offense continued to put it on the Bulldogs when senior Jane Vardzel assisted Ali Frietas on her first goal to make the final score 5-0. Alexa Gray and Ali Frietas scored their first career goals in today's match while Vardzel, Gray and Herrmann picked up their first assists of 2015.
Junior goalkeeper Lauren Killian notched her second straight shutout since taking over the starting job full-time and moves her record to 4-1 on the season. Over the last three games, Killian has recorded a season-high 243-minute scoreless streak and 12 saves. She has allowed only three goals in 513 total minutes in net this season for a 0.53 goals-against-average.
“I think right now Lauren is doing a really good job for us, including her two shutouts in a row,” said Michner. “That's not all goalkeeping but certainly our team defending has been impressive the last few games. Lauren has been a rock back there for us. We know we have a great goalkeeping core. Right now Lauren Killian has the nod but I know Genevieve Henderson is pushing her very hard every day so we are really confident with either of them to get a win.”
The Cougars will open up Colonial Athletic Association play this upcoming weekend when they host Delaware on Friday, Sept. 25 and Drexel on Sunday, Sept. 27.
