October 29, 2011

No. 18 Pirates Earn Outright PBC Title With 1-1 Draw At No. 11 North Georgia

DAHLONEGA, Ga. - It's not often that a draw feels like both a win and a loss at the same time, but for the No. 18-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University women's soccer team, both were true as the Pirates clinched its first outright Peach Belt Conference regular season title with a 1-1 draw at No. 11 North Georgia on Saturday afternoon in Dahlonega, Ga.

The Pirates finish the 2011 regular season with a 12-2-3 overall mark but a 9-0-1 record in Peach Belt play, clinching the crown and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming PBC tournament, which begins Tuesday. North Georgia (14-1-1, 8-1-1 PBC) will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Armstrong scored first in the match as junior Kristina Pascutti slotted a cross from freshman Brianne Matarazzo into the lower left side of the goal in the 34th minute for her 11th tally of the season. 

The Pirates had a golden opportunity to take a 2-0 lead in the 37th minute, but Pascutti was ruled offsides after putting the ball into the back of the net.

At halftime, North Georgia held a slim edge in shots, 7-6, with both starting goalkeepers -Meghan Mayville for the Pirates and Kirsten Ross for the Saints - making three saves.

In the second half, the Saints took advantage of the 15-to-20 MPH wind at their backs to outshoot the Pirates, 12-1, in the second half. The breakthrough finally came in the 80th minute as the conference's leading scorer, Emily Dover, pounced on a loose ball in the box and scored to tie the match at 1-1.

The Pirates had the only chances in extra time as Ross had to save a shot by sophomoreAndye Dawson in the 91st minute, then she stopped a try by Matarazzo in the 104th minute to preserve the draw.

"First of all, a lot of credit to North Georgia," Armstrong head women's soccer coach Eric Faulconer said. "Coach Adams has a very good team and they really took it to us in the second half.

"With that said, I am extremely proud of our players. They have lived up to the pressures of being the preseason favorite all season long, and to go through this season with out a loss [in PBC play] is a wonderful accomplishment. To win back-to-back conference titles says a lot about our program and this great group of young ladies."

Lady Braves Use Arvidsson's Trick To Capture 4-1 Win Over Lander

PEMBROKE – A hat trick by freshman Amalia Arvidsson helped lift the UNCP women's soccer team out of its recent offensive funk, and push past Lander by a 4-1 final on Saturday afternoon at Varsity Grounds in Pembroke.

UNCP (9-5-3, 4-4-2 PBC) scored more goals in the game than it had in its previous six contests combined, and it was the most goals for the team since it recorded a 6-0 win over Georgia Southwestern on October 1.

It took under a minute for Arvidsson to notch her first goal of the game, and sixth of the season, when a pass from defender Fanny Forsman was able to get past the Lander (12-4-1, 5-4-1 PBC) back line and ended up in the right side of the goal from the outside of Arvidsson's foot. 

She added another in the 29th minute on a ricochet ball that hit the left post and bounced over and snuck inside the right post for the seventh goal of her rookie season.

She added her third goal of the game in the 75th minute when another pass was able to get over the heads of the Bearcats' back line and she buried it in the goal from five yards out.

Lander then recorded their first goal in the 89th minute on an unassisted goal by Christina Barbour, before Alisia Gustafson notched her second goal of the season just over a minute later to give UNCP a 4-1 victory. 

Sophomore Britney Bennett recorded five saves in the game while Kayla Colon was responsible for shadowing Jamie Shaw all afternoon and limited her to just three shots with only one of those on goal. Shaw entered the matchup tied for fourth in the league with nine goals and eighth in points with 20.

Clayton State Women Blank USC Aiken 2-0 for 10th Shutout of the Season

AIKEN, S.C. – October 29, 2011 – Upon his arrival as the women’s head soccer coach at Clayton State, Gareth O’Sullivan was out to change the landscape of the Lakers’ fortunes this season.

In a season of new accomplishments, the Lakers reached another pinnacle on Saturday by closing out the regular season with a 2-0 victory at USC Aiken in Peach Belt Conference action. The victory improves Clayton State to 9-6-2 overall and 4-4-2 in the Peach Belt. More importantly, it guarantees the Lakers their first winning season since 2007.

In addition, Clayton State recorded its 10th shutout of the season, matching the most by a Laker team previously set in 2005. USC Aiken ends its season 4-12 overall and 1-9 in the Peach Belt.

Clayton State scored both of its goals in the first half on the foot of junior forward Natalia Valentine. She scored her first in the 12th minute on a give and go off an assist by Josefine Holsten in the lower left corner of the net. Valentine struck again in the 31st minute as she took an incoming pass from Dior McGruder and hammered it into the upper right-hand corner of the net.

For the season, Valentine has now scored 11 goals, making her one of the leaders in the Peach Belt Conference.

From there, the Laker defense took over as Clayton State goalkeeper Laoise O’Driscoll recorded five saves to preserve the shutout. It was her ninth shutout of the season, the second-most in a season by a Laker goalkeeper. O’Driscoll has allowed only two goals in her last 874 minutes of action.

USC Aiken out-shot Clayton State 12-11, and there were a combined 37 fouls committed by both teams.

Flagler Rolls Past Georgia College in Regular Season Finale

ST. AUGUSTINE – Lindsay Zullo and Loren Cate both netted two second half goals as Flagler College erupted for a 5-0 triumph over Georgia College in the regular season finale for both teams in a Peach Belt Conference women’s soccer match Saturday night at Saints Field.

Flagler closes the regular season at 9-7-1 overall and 5-4-1 in the Peach Belt, the best record the Saints have posted in their three years in the league. Flagler finishes in a tie for fourth place in the conference, also its best finish. Georgia College wraps up its season at 5-13-0 overall and 4-6-0 in the conference.

Flagler will be the No. 5 seed in the upcoming conference tournament and will play a quarterfinal match at No. 4 Lander University at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 1. The Bearcats hold the tiebreaker against the Saints with a 1-0 victory at Saints Field on Oct. 1. 

After a scoreless first half, Zullo took Cate’s errant shot and tapped it into the goal in the 46th minute. She scored her second goal of the match 10 minutes later when she took Jessica Jagielski’s pass and made a move on the keeper and tucked the ball inside the near post.

Cate’s first goal came in the 74th minute when she banked in a shot off the bottom of the cross bar from 28 yards out to give Flagler a commanding 3-0 lead. Three minutes late, it was Cate again as she took a pass from Zullo and found an opening in the upper left corner of the goal and the Saints upped its lead to 4-0.

Taylor Adkins finished the scoring barrage with an unassisted goal in the 86th minute. She dribbled in from just over the midfield line and blasted a shot in from 24 yards.

Cate took 11 shots with five coming on goal. Zullo and Jagielski each took six shots.

Jamie Colcord and Karen Bonilla each took three shots for the Bobcats with two coming on goal. 

Cristina Coca recorded her second consecutive shutout, her third of the season, and finished with five saves. Annie Stephens recorded seven saves for Georgia College.

Prince Powers Falcons in Double Overtime, 2-1

MONTEVALLO, Ala. – For the second time in four games sophomore Christine Prince (Ajax, Ontario/Pickering) scored an overtime goal to give the University of Montevallo women's soccer team (6-11-1, 3-6-1 PBC) a victory. Prince scored a goal with just 1:15 left in the second overtime to close out the Falcons season on a high note. UM defeated Peach Belt Conference foe Georgia Southwestern State University (3-15-0, 0-10-0 PBC), 2-1 in double overtime on the road. UM's other goal came from freshman Camilla Alderin (Oslo, Norway/Persbraten Videregaende Skole) who scored the game-tying goal in the 18th minute of action.

The Hurricanes struck first in the contest at the 12:28 mark as Brittney Hill scored on a cross from Carolann Simpson. Alderin responded just five minutes later as she took a long range shot that beat the GSW keeper to tie the game at one. Despite the early goal-scoring action neither team was able to capatilize on the momentum. The teams entered halftime with Montevallo leading in shots 9-3.

Junior Alyssa Maxwell (Surrey, British Columbia/Semiahmoo) played the opening 45 minutes in goal for the Falcons as she made a pair of saves and allowed the lone goal. Sophomore Kaitlin Thomas (Calgary, Alberta/Foothills Composite) took over for the second half and two overtime periods as she made just one save and took home the victory evening out her record to 6-6 on the season.

Both teams could not get going offensively in the second half as UM barely out shot the Hurricanes 5-4.

The first overtime period mirrored the second half as Montevallo managed two shots while GSW had none. The heroics came in the second overtime period as freshman Olivia McKenzie (Harvest, Ala./Sparkman) found Prince who used her ability to get an open shot and give the Falcons their sixth victory of the season.

UM ended the match out-shooting the Hurricanes 17-8 with a 8-4 advantage in shots on goal.