Lorman, Miss. - The Centenary women's soccer team made history on Wednesday evening as the Ladies defeated a Division I opponent for the first time in the current division III era (2011-present), edging the Alcorn State University Lady Braves in a non-conference contest, 2-1, at Spinks-Casem Stadium.
The Ladies (1-2) earned their first win of the season and rebounded nicely from a pair of disappointing losses to open the season against Southern (5-0) and ETBU (3-1). The Lady Braves fell to 1-4 with the loss. Centenary improves to 3-0 all-time versus Alcorn State after a pair of home wins in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but Wednesday was the first meeting between the teams in Lorman.
The teams played a scoreless first half until sophomore forward Daisy Acosta (Deer Park, Texas) scored in the 59th minute to give the Ladies a 1-0 lead. Following an offsides call on Alcorn State, junior D Yosi Bouslog (Friendswood, Texas) played a perfect ball inbounds into the middle of the field among a group of sprinting teammates, and after a deflected shot attempt by junior F Sydney Bascomb (Mesquite, Texas) ricocheted off of Alcorn goalkeeper Vivian Lugo, Acosta was there waiting to tap it in for the score.
Sophomore D Alexa Hinojosa (Pasadena, Texas) scored roughly 10 minutes later to make it 2-0 off an assist from junior F Avery Gilbert (League City, Texas). The goal was the second of Hinojosa's career. Charlie Bal scored for the Lady Braves in the 88th minute to cut the Ladies' lead to 2-1 with the assist credited to Rosalina Santoro.
Alcorn State wound up with a 16-11 advantage in total shots for the match including 12 on goal, keeping Centenary's two goalkeepers, freshman GK Madison Ersoff (Shreveport), and senior Avery Sanderson (McKinney, Texas) busy all evening. Sanderson started and picked up the win as she played the first half and recorded five saves. The rookie Ersoff played the entire second half and made six clutch saves and allowed just the one late goal. Lugo played all 90 minutes as well and made seven saves and allowed the pair of goals. The Lady Braves took six corner kicks to two for the Ladies and the teams combined for just 16 total fouls.
Ersoff, who had 10 total saves on the season (third in the SCAC) entering Wednesday's match, turned in the most impressive performance of her young career. Bascomb led the way with three shots and her ninth career assist, Acosta scored her second-career goal, and Gilbert tallied her fourth-career assist. Acosta took a pair of shots on Wednesday, both on goal, and junior MF Celeste Muniz (Denton, Texas) had a pair of shots, with one on target, in 86 minutes played. Santoro, who had the assist on Alcorn's lone goal, had three shots and two shots on goal, and Bal and Paula Sole each had three.
The Ladies have now won five of their last six non-conference road matches dating back to the 2019 season and have also allowed one goal or less in 13 of their last 15 matches over the last two seasons. Centenary remains on the road next weekend to face St. Thomas on Friday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m.
See the complete women's soccer season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wsoc/2021-22/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests but be advised of current COVID-19 protocols for fans. Updated COVID-19 information will be available in the coming days via www.GoCentenary.com. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
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