SUWANEE, Ga. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference opened its 19th season of women's soccer this past week with ten teams in action. Combined the league posted a sparkling record of 16-2-3 with a plus 47 goal differential. As promised it appears the league is a competitive as ever.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College opened
its season with three straight shutouts, tying UT-Dallas after two
overtimes and trouncing Fontbonne 5-0 and LeTourneau 3-0. Kaitlin
Elledge, who had six shutouts a year ago, was in the net for all
three shutouts last week and made six saves. First year player
Kelsey D’Amore scored two goals and Ali Ryan added a goal and
two assists on the week, while Annie Gunter and Amy Holman each had
a goal and an assist. Shelley Casey also got into the scoring,
finding the net against Fontbonne, while Ali Fidel and Mackenzie
Lund each scored against LeTourneau. Next up for the ’Roos is
a home contest against Mary Hardin-Baylor on September 8.
Birmingham-Southern made easy work of the visiting
Huntingdon College Hawks, winning 8-0 in their season opener at BSC
Soccer Park. Senior Serena Murphy returned from a season-ending
injury last season to give the Panthers their first goal of the
season off a nice cross from Sara Menton. The goal turned out to
also be the winning goal, as the Panther defense allowed just one
Hawk shot on the night. Menton scored her own goal on the next trip
down the pitch to get her first of two on the night, putting BSC up
2-0 and the Panthers took over from there. Linda Amaya scored in
the 11th-minute, and Alicia Plotky added the Panthers’ fourth
in the 32nd, putting ‘Southern up 4-0 at the half. Devon
Weldon got her first collegiate goal in the 68th-minute. Then
Menton and Plotky each got their second goal of the match, all in
the span of ten minutes. Adding to the Hawks woes on the night, in
the 79th-minute a Huntingdon defender attempting to clear the ball
out of bounds misfired and sent the ball shooting past her own
keeper, giving Jillian Theibert her first goal of the season due to
her proximity to the play. The Panthers will take this momentum and
try and carry it over on the road Monday, as they face
Auburn-Montgomery at 4:00 in a Labor Day matchup with the
Senators.
Centre earned three wins in their opening three
matches. This weekend the Colonels head to Greencastle, Ind., to
participate in the DePauw University Showcase. Centre plays
Wittenberg University Friday, Sept. 11th at 5:30 pm and Denison
College Saturday, Sept. 12th at 2:00 pm.
DePauw opened the season with three games against
teams ranked in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America
Preseason Top 25 Poll and came away with an 0-2-1 record. The
Tigers opened at home with a 2-1 loss to 16th-ranked Chicago as the
teams battled to a 1-1 tie through the first 45 minutes. The
visiting Maroons scored early in the second half and took a 2-1
win. Stephanie Patton scored the Tigers' lone goal at 32:17. The
Maroons outshot the Tigers 12-6, but DePauw had two corners to
Chicago's one. Caroline Kerr totaled three saves for DePauw, while
Chicago's Emma Gormley had two. DePauw then faced 11th-ranked
University of Puget Sound at the Bob Baptista Invitational at
Wheaton (Ill.) College and dropped a 4-0 decision to the Loggers.
The Tigers wrapped up the week with a 1-1 tie against 21st-ranked
Carleton. DePauw trailed 1-0 at the half, but Julia Drummond scored
just 16 seconds into the second half and the teams were scoreless
through regulation and both overtimes. Carleton held a 29-21 edge
in shots, while each team finished with seven corners. Lauren
Palfrey recorded five saves in the first half, while Caroline Kerr
posted six saves and didn't allow a goal in the second half and
both overtime periods.
Hendrix College first year forward Ashley Gallegos
ignited her collegiate career with a hat trick to lead Hendrix
College to a 7-0 season-opening win over Louisiana College on
Saturday afternoon. Gallegos totaled eight points on the day with
three goals and two assists, while junior midfielder Lydia Nash
dished out three assists and four other Warriors scored one goal
apiece. It took Hendrix 22 minutes to crack the scoreboard, when
senior forward Kate Burnett put the ball past the keeper off an
assist from Gallegos. The two forwards traded places for the next
goal with Gallegos scoring and Burnett assisting in the 28th
minute. Gallegos connected with Nash for her second goal of the
contest with four minutes remaining in the first half. First year
midfielder Kaleigh Knapton scored her first collegiate goal off an
assist from sophomore midfielder Lindsey Abel in the 41st minute,
and then Gallegos and Nash combined once again to put Hendrix up
5-0 in the first half. The Warriors tallied 24 shots in the first
half, compared to the Wildcats’ two. Goalkeeper Emily Breaux
made 12 saves for Louisiana in the first half, while sophomore
Allison Mosley did not face a shot on goal the entire game. Abel
scored Hendrix’s first goal of the second half off
Nash’s final assist of the game. First year forward Ana
Contreras slipped the Warriors’ final ball past the keeper in
the 88th minute off an assist from Gallegos.
Millsaps put together
a 2-0 week to open the 2009 season. The Majors opened with a 3-0
shutout victory on the road Tuesday night at Louisiana College and
followed it up with a 1-0 shutout win over East Texas Baptist
University at home Sunday afternoon. Senior Leslie Robichaux led
the team offensively, scoring three of the team’s four goals,
two of which proved to be game-winners. Backstopping the defense
was junior goalkeeper Sarah Nelin, who finished the week allowing
zero goals against and making four total saves in the two contests.
Millsaps will remain home for its next match Wednesday night when
they take on the Yellow Jackets from LeTourneau University at 7:00
p.m.
Oglethorpe won both their games in the opening
week of the season to post a 2-0 record. In the opener against
Agnes Scott, Oglethorpe got a late goal off the foot of freshman
Courtney Phillips in the 80th minute to seal a 2-1 win. Shannon
Dougherty fed Phillips with a beautiful cross from 20 yards out for
the game winner and Lexi Vassell got the scoring underway for
Oglethorpe on an unassisted effort early in the second half. On
Thursday, the Petrels rallied to top Spelman, 2-1. Down a goal, the
Petrels got the equalizer in the game’s 59th minute when
Vassell fed Dougherty for a perfectly executed blast from 25 yards.
As the clock ticked down, sophomore Eliza Newland buried a free
kick from 30 yards in the game’s 82nd minute to spring the
Petrels to victory. The Oglethorpe women are back on the pitch this
Thursday afternoon when they face Tennessee Temple on Salamone
Field at 3:30 p.m.
Rhodes started the 2009 season in quick fashion,
when Ashley Ladd scored 8 minutes into the first game of the season
against the University of the Ozarks. Also scoring in the 3-0
victory for the Lynx were Melissa Coquelin, and Alice Hilgart. Zoe
Clark, Ashley Ladd, and Mae Casey provided the assists for the
goals. In the second game of the Rhodes Classic, the Lynx tied the
University of Texas-Dallas 1-1 after 110 minutes of soccer. Bridget
Nicholson scored the equalizer with 23 minutes left in the game.
UTD and Rhodes battled out the remainder of time and 2ot’s
for the draw. The Lynx return to action this weekend when they
travel to Abilene, TX to face East Texas Baptist University, and
Hardin-Simmons University.
Sewanee did not play last week and will kick off
the 2009 soccer season as the Purple Tigers will host Covenant
College on Tuesday up on the Mountain.
Southwestern has opened the season in impressive
fashion scoring seven goals over a two game period to start 2009
2-0. The Pirates opened at home against Mary Hardin-Baylor on
Tuesday with a 3-1 win. They dominated most of the game taking
eight more shots (14-6) than the Crusaders. Amy Douglas led the way
with one goal and one assist in the opener. Saturday, SU traveled
to Howard Payne University and wasted no time getting on the board
scoring just six minutes into the game when Douglas found AJ
Andreola. The Pirates scored two more times in the half to go up
3-0 and then added one more on for good measure in the second half
to win 4-0. Andreola led the way for SU with two goals in the game
on seven shots. Keepers Sarah Nonaka and Cheryl Duncan have been
splitting time in goal and recorded two games a piece over the
weeks action.
Trinity opened up its season with a pair of
shutout wins at home last week, defeating Texas Lutheran 2-0 on
Tuesday, then edging Hardin-Simmons 1-0 in overtime on Saturday.
The Tigers tallied eight shutouts in 18 games last season, but
already have two at the start of this year. Goalkeeper Katie
Garrett has recorded four saves in two games, and senior All-Region
defender Danika Wright has led a defense that held the two
opponents to just 10 total shots. Abigail Loar, last season’s
SCAC Newcomer of the Year, knocked in two of the team’s three
goals last week, with both goals being game-winners. Loar tied for
third on the team with six goals last season. Trinity will wrap up
its four-game homestand to start the year with two more games this
weekend. The Tigers face UT-Tyler on Friday night, then take on
UT-Dallas on Sunday afternoon. Last season, Trinity went to
double-overtime on the road against both teams, beating UT-Dallas
2-1, but tying UT-Tyler 2-2.
To view the entire Kicks Weekly for week one,
click here.