GREENSBORO, NC – Following a game time change, the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) women's soccer team fell to defending 2021 SoCon regular season and tournament champions the Samford Bulldogs Friday afternoon at UNCG Soccer Stadium.
The Spartans struck first in the second half with a goal from
Hannah Morton, but the Bulldogs were quick with the equalizer and then won the contest with a final score of 2-1.
How it Happened:
The Spartans defended their attacking third for the first 25 minutes, as a dangerous Samford offense began knocking on the UNCG's doorstep with four shots. The Bulldogs outshot the Spartans 7-1 in the first half with most of their opportunities coming off set pieces and four of those shots being on frame.
The poor weather conditions did not stop the aggressive Bulldog offense with an opportunity coming just four minutes into the game. Samford went one-on-one with
Abby Buchholz who came sliding out, blocking the offensive attack.
After being named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Week, Buchholz showed just what that meant with four saves in the first half and coming out of her goal a number of times to beat the Bulldogs to the ball. Although Samford had the better opportunities in the first half, the Spartans held the score line to 0-0.
The first tally was put on the board in the 57
th minute when senior
Gabi Santora fed a through ball to junior
Hannah Morton. Driving towards the Samford goal, Morton buried the ball into the upper 90, putting the Spartans on the board with a 1-0 lead. It did not take long for Samford to respond though. After a foul in the Spartans' 18-yard box, Kylie Gazza lined up for a penalty kick and placed it neatly into the left corner of the goal. The Bulldogs tied the game up just two minutes after UNCG took the lead. The game seemed dead-locked, with the Spartan defense continuing to stand strong in the midst of the storm. With eight minutes left in the match Samford was able to break through and get a cross through, finding the feet of Kyla Reynolds who notched her second goal of the season and pushing her team to a 2-1 win over UNCG.
By the Number:
- Morton scored her third goal of the season.
- Buchholz recorded her season high of six saves.
- Samford outshot UNCG 15-3, eight of which were on frame.
- Kylie Gazza and Kyla Reynolds of Samford scored.
Records:
UNCG: 5-5-1, 1-1-0 SoCon
Samford: 5-3-4, 1-1-1 SoCon
From Head Coach Michael Coll
"We knew that Samford was going to be another ultra-physical and ultra-direct SoCon team. The weather played its part today, so hopefully the weather for Sunday's match against Chattanooga will be more normal."
"We did a good job of getting the first goal with
Hannah Morton scoring an excellent goal. We need to do a better job of handling the physicality of direct teams after we go up and be able to finish out a game. We have to get our team to win games at home. SoCon play will not get any easier with the physical play of all the teams."
Up Next:
The Spartans finish their weekend with a SoCon battle, hosting the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for a 2:00 PM start time on Sunday, October 2
nd at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
Prior to the game, UNCG will recognize its four seniors in
Ciani Ricks,
Eliza Radoll,
Maddy Gilhool, and
Gabi Santora.
