CHARLESTON, S.C. – Three goals and a dominating display all over the pitch saw the College of Charleston women's soccer team defeat in-state and in-city rivals, Charleston Southern, 3-0 at Patriots Point on Thursday evening. With the victory, the Cougars have now won 10 in a row and are 20-games unbeaten against the Buccaneers, dating back to 1998.

The Cougars were ahead in the opening stages with sophomore Leah Deutsch making it two goals in two games by opening the scoring in the 7^th minute. Deutsch beat her marker down the left byline, crossed for Laura Ortega whose effort bounced back off the goalkeeper for Deutsch to tap in from five yards on the angle.

Maddy Brill-Edwards worked space in the right channel in the 25^th minute, whipping a cross into the box for Alyssa Beck but her header flew over the bar.

Minutes later, Brill-Edwards scored the goal of the game. A cross from the left was cleared out with Brill-Edwards taking a touch on her chest in the right channel before crushing a 25-yard effort into the top left corner to double the Cougars lead.

The second half proved to be one-way traffic with Charleston having 14 efforts at goal while shutting down the Buccaneer's offense completely.

Katrina Koomen had a golden opportunity to seal the win in the 73^rd minute but she got underneath the cross from Brill-Edwards and saw her header fly over the bar.

Kacey Smekrud had a couple of half-chances from the edge of the box as the game entered the final stages, with Mackenzie Crittenberger finally getting the third goal just 30 seconds from the final whistle. Crittenberger controlled the ball 10 yards from goal, had a shot that was blocked, took a touch out her feet and fired across the goalkeeper for her first goal of the season.  

With the win, Charleston moves to 4-3-0 on the season and now look to a road trip at Winthrop on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. in Rock Hill, S.C.

Postgame Quotes - Head Coach Christian Michner
On the game…
"I'm really proud of my team's performance over the full 90 minutes, obviously we set the tone in the first five minutes. In the locker room, prior to coming out, we really talked about being the team that was on top from the get-go… pressure, creating chances. We scored kind of a fortunate goal to start the game off, but it takes the pressure off a little bit… I was really proud of the way the Cougars played all night."
 
On the 10-win, 20-game unbeaten, streak against Charleston Southern…
"It's not easy to do. The Silver Cup is a worthy trophy we play for every year. Eric Terrill has done a fantastic job over the years at Charleston Southern, so for the Cougars to be unbeaten through 20 is pretty amazing. We certainly always want to try to push for the win and inner-city rivalries like these derbies are not easy to win. For the Cougars to have consistently done that over the years is impressive and [I'm] super proud of this group."

On Maddy Brill-Edwards goal…
"Fantastic… Maddy and I talked before the match and I said, "Mad, I have a good feeling, I think you're gonna get one… get forward with the ball and don't be afraid to let loose." She had a go and she might have scored the goal of the year. I thought we might have seen the goal of the year last week but Maddy just went one-up on her [Leah Deutsch] so we'll see if we can continue that streak in defenders getting great goals."

On keeping the good performances going into Winthrop…
"We're in a great rhythm right now, the kids are training and recovering well. The time between games is crucial so we're gonna celebrate this one tonight and then kind of drop it and be ready for the next one… Winthrop will be a tough one on the road, so we've got to be ready to go on Sunday."

Notables
• Charleston are now on a 10-game win streak and 20-game unbeaten streak against Charleston Southern dating back to 1998
• Maddy Brill-Edwards scored her first goal of the season
• Leah Deutsch scored her second goal in two games
• Laura Ortega got her second assist of the season to move into third all-time at CofC with 18
• Redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Crittenberger scored her first collegiate goal
• Meredith Tunney, Rachel Kim and Leah Deutsch all played 90 minutes for Charleston
• Tunney continues to be the only Cougar to play every minute of every game this season (641 minutes)
• 27 student-athletes saw game-time for the Cougars

Next Up
Charleston face Winthrop in Rock Hill, S.C., on Sunday afternoon. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. against the Eagles who are currently 3-1-1 on the season.