Charleston Continue Road Travels at Coastal Carolina

Thursday, August 23

Conway, SC - Coastal Carolina Soccer Stadium

6:00 PM

College of Charleston

Coastal Carolina

Charleston Continue Road Travels at Coastal Carolina

8/22/2018 9:59:00 AM | Women's Soccer

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (1-1-0) at COASTAL CAROLINA (1-0-1)
Game #3 • Thurs. Aug. 23, 2018 • 6:00 p.m. ET
Conway, S.C. • CCU Soccer Stadium
Series: Charleston trail 2-3-2 overall
Last: Aug. 20, 2017; Charleston lost 2-1
Stats: CofCStats.com
Twitter: @CofCWSOC

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston women's soccer team continue their road travels with a Thursday evening matchup against in-state rivals Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the CCU Soccer Stadium.

Scouting Coastal Carolina
The Chanticleers opened the season with a 2-0 win over Davidson behind goals from Hannah Miller and Baylee Price. On Sunday evening Winthrop held CCU to a 1-1 draw. The Sun Belt coaches picked Coastal Carolina to finish fifth in the preseason poll after reaching the conference title game in 2017 with a 10-8-1 overall record.

Series History
The game will be the eighth in history between the two teams and the fourth under Head Coach Christian Michner, who is 1-2 all-time against the Chanticleers.

Last Meeting with Coastal Carolina
Last season Charleston took a 1-0 lead into halftime but a CCU rally in the second half gave them the win. Kalli Vogel scored The College's lone goal with the teams finishing nearly identical statistically.

Quotable – Head Coach Christian Michner
"We're always excited to play in-state rivals and Coastal Carolina have been a good team for a lot of years. They're very well coached so we'll have to be prepared physically and certainly tactically for the challenge on Thursday night. It's always a good game between the programs so we're excited about lacing them up again and [we're] hoping to get a win on Thursday."

Notables
• Five players played a full 90 minutes in the season opener including four of the five defense; Genevieve Henderson, Rachel Kim, Meredith Tunney and Leah Deutsch
• Meredith Tunney is the lone Cougar to play 90 minutes through both games this season
• Laura Ortega leads the team in shots [5] and shots on target [3]
• In her debut for CofC, freshman Hannah Farmer got her first career assist by setting up Laura Ortega in the 2-0 win over North Florida
• Ortega is six goals from tying the career program record and seven points from the most in program history
• Genevieve Henderson continues to climb the goalkeeper career record books in minutes played (8th with 2,247), save percentage and goals against average
• Senior forward Laura Ortega was named CAA Preseason Co-Player of the Year
• Ortega and senior defender Maddy Brill-Edwards were named CAA Preseason All-CAA selections
• As a league, the CAA went 7-10-3 in the first weekend of the season

Last Time Out
The College fell to South Carolina on the road in Columbia, S.C. in front of 2,609 fans. The Gamecocks, ranked no. 5 in the Preseason U.S. Coaches Poll, dominated the opening stages with CofC getting their first sight of goal in the 31^st minute of play. The Cougs defense held until midway through the second half when two goals in seven minutes for South Carolina confirmed a 2-0 loss for Charleston.

Friday Night Lights
The College opened the 2018 season with a dominating display last Friday against North Florida. Alyssa Beck and Laura Ortega scored a goal in each half to get Michner's ninth season in charge started with a win. Genevieve Henderson made four saves, only one in the last 30 minutes, with the Charleston defense proving hard to crack in their home opener.

Record Hunting
CAA Preseason Co-Player of the Year Laura Ortega continues to edge closer to program history. Ortega is six goals from tying the career record of 24 set by Kristin Rhyne (2003-05) and just seven points from tying the points record (59, also set by Rhyne). Ortega is currently third in career points with 52, tied sixth in goals with 18 and is fourth all-time in assists with 16 (six from the career record).

Cougars Summary
The College has been picked to finish sixth in the Colonial Athletic Association by the league's coaches. Charleston returns 24 letterwinners, including nine starters, while adding 11 newcomers to the roster. The 2018 squad will be led by 2017 All-CAA selection Laura Ortega who led the offense last season with eight goals and five assists; good for 21 points. Senior defender Maddy Brill-Edwards is a Preseason All-CAA selection alongside Ortega.