LEXINGTON, VA – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) women's soccer team shut out Virginia Military Institute (VMI), 3-0, Friday afternoon to open Southern Conference (SoCon) play.
This was the Spartan's second shutout of the season.
Senior
Maddy Gilhool scored her fifth goal of the season, while classmate
Ciani Ricks and junior
Parker Sikora recorded their first-collegiate goals.
How it Happened:
The Spartans recorded the first shot of the game at 1:46 and the Keydets responded with their own. Around the 10th minute of play, UNCG's sophomore
Mel Herrera kept the ball moving forward and found Gilhool battling one-on-one with a Keydet just outside the 18-yard box. Gilhool boxed out the VMI defender and turned quick, striking it with her left foot and finding the lower right corner past the diving keeper for a 1-0 advantage at 9:50.
Just two minutes later, the Spartans capitalized on their second corner kick of the game. Morton sent an inswinger to the left side of the box, where Sikora headed it to the upper left corner, extending UNCG's lead to two. UNCG's possession for the remainder of the half included five shots with three on goal. Another notable chance came in the 29
th minute when freshman
Morgan Brubaker struck a shot that met the crossbar.
The first shot of the second half came from Gilhool, who took a dangerous shot on goal just three minutes into the second half, causing the VMI goalkeeper to come out for one of her seven saves of the game. Continuing to be a problem for the VMI backline, the Spartans went on a quick counterattack feeding the ball into Gilhool who took another chance. This time, VMI's goalkeeper came outside of the six-yard box to defend, but the shot bounced out of the goalkeeper's hands, giving Ricks her own opportunity. The Keydets' defense attempted to clear the rebound, but Ricks kicked it, finding the back of the net to extend the Spartans' lead to three in the 64
th minute. VMI took its best opportunity with 17 minutes left in the half. A shot from distance was floating into the back post but
Abby Buchholz was determined to keep her clean sheet and made her only save of the game, diving backward and punching the ball out for VMI's first corner of the game.
By the Number:
- Gilhool notched the 10th goal of her career.
- Sikora and Ricks netted their first-career goals.
- Buchholz got her second clean sheet of the season.
- The Spartans outshot VMI, 20-6 with 10 on goal.
- The Keydets' Jillian Hall had a game-high seven saves in net.
From Head Coach Michael Coll
"It was a very professional performance from the team today. The players dominated the game and three goals plus a shutout road win makes us happy. VMI is a difficult place to play and the Keydets can pick up SoCon points at home so this is the start to conference season we wanted."
Records:
UNCG: 4-4-1, 1-0-0 SoCon
VMI: 0-8-1, 0-1-0 SoCon
Up Next:
The Spartans will travel to Greenville, N.C. for their last non-conference regular season game, taking on the East Carolina Pirates for a 5:00 p.m. kick-off on Sunday, September 25th at Johnson Stadium.
