Cougars Succumb 2-0 to Bulldogs

Friday, August 19

Mt. Pleasant

7:30 PM

College of Charleston

0-1

Mississippi State

1-0

Mississippi State

Col. of Charleston

8/20/2016 4:09:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: CofCSports.com

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's soccer team kicked off the season by playing Mississippi State to a draw in the shot column, but it was the Bulldogs who found opportune scoring late in halves to get the best of the Cougars on Friday night.

• Johanna Hamblett found a loose ball in the box and managed to convert the opportunity in the closing 90 seconds of the opening half. In the second frame as the Cougars fought to get the equalizer, MSU again found the back of the net late in the period by way of a Khalyn Harmon runner in the 85th minute.

• The Cougars matched the Bulldogs 18-18 in total shots, and put more opportunities on-frame with a 11-7 advantage in shots on goal. Tanya de Souza came away with the 11-save shutout, while Lauren Killian stonewalled five shots in her own right.

• Sarah Blakely led the game in shots with four, followed closely by the three submitted by Tracey Webster.

• The Cougars got to action much later than expected thanks to an unannounced cameo from Mother Nature. Lightning delayed the opening contest by an hour and 45 minutes, and the Cougars and Bulldogs didn't begin play until after 9 p.m.

“I was happy with the way we played,” head coach Christian Michner sain “We played a really tough, direct, physical team, and I'm proud of the way our players battled through that. We certainly had a lot more chances in the second half, and while it was bad timing to give up a goal at the end of the half, there's never really a good time to give up a goal.”

“Mississippi State really played for restarts and throw-ins,” Michner said. “They were dangerous and it was tough to deal with. They've scored a lot of goals like that in the past, and they found another one tonight. But I was happy with our crew. Overall it was a pretty even game.”

The Cougars host the LSU Lady Tigers on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 1:30 p.m. LSU dropped its season-opener earlier in the day at Patriots Point when it fell 1-0 to No. 17 Virginia Tech.

“LSU is going to be a difficult game,” Michner said. “It's a very good team that's extremely well-coached. They'll be disappointed to have not gotten a positive result this evening, so it's two teams who'll be scrapping for points on Sunday. We'll be in the mix as long as we show up to compete from the opening whistle, and it'll be an exciting game for the fans to see.”