Cougars’ Season Ends in Tight 1-0 Defeat to JMU

Sunday, October 30

Harrisonburg, VA - Sentara Park

1:00 PM

College of Charleston

10-7-3, 3-3-3CAA

James Madison

9-10-0, 5-4-0CAA

C. of Charleston

James Madison

Photo by: Al Samuels

10/30/2016 3:55:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Chris Chandler, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications

HARRISONBURG, VA. – The season came to an end for the College of Charleston women's soccer team (10-7-3) despite a hard-fought effort, as the Cougars narrowly fell 1-0 to the James Madison Dukes (9-10) in the opening game of the CAA Tournament.

• Lauren Killian played a top-notch game for the Cougars making four saves on the day, the most impressive of which was a falling kick save in the opening minutes of the second half to rob Haley Crawford. Killian ends her collegiate career with a CofC record-setting 280 career saves, as well as 13 shutouts, 4815 minutes, a 1.38 GAA and a .791 save percentage during her stint as a Cougar, all of which rank in the Top 5 in CofC history.

• Both teams experienced a heart-stopping moment at the midway point of the first half, when JMU's Sydney Braun-McLeod broke up a CofC feed into the corner of the box. The ball took a dangerous trajectory toward the JMU net, and if not for a leaping "save" by Maggie Buxton, the Cougars would have led 1-0 by way of an own-goal.

• Jessica Schifer and Rio Speller-Drews led the College offensively with two shots a piece, with Speller-Drews attempts both coming in the waning minutes of the game. Laura Ortega logged all 90 minutes on offense, while Tracey Webster, Suzi Vallez, Meredith Tunney and Maddie Brill-Edwards all did likewise on the back-end.

• James Madison finally cracked through the CofC defense in the 70^th minute, when Colleen Gawkins got the ball cleanly in the box to the left of Lauren Killian. Gawkins stutter-stepped, fired, and though Killian got a piece of it, the ball trickled in low and away.

"I'm so proud of this team and especially this group of seniors for the season we just had," head coach Christian Michner said. "Today's game was a real even battle between two good teams, and to take the defending CAA Champions all the way to the wire is a real testament to how far we've come as a program. We came in to the match today believing that we can play with anyone in this league and the girls proved that throughout the 90 minutes. I'm sad that our season has come to an end, but so excited for our future."

With the win, the Dukes advance to a neutral-site showdown with the Drexel Dragons in Brookline, Mass. next Friday.