By: by Matthew Farhadi
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. – For the fifth straight year since becoming eligible for the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in 2006, the Kennesaw State women’s soccer team punched its ticket to the 2010 A-Sun Conference Tournament on Friday night with a 2-0 win over USC Upstate.
The win improves the Owls to (8-6-1, 5-3 A-Sun) for the season, while the loss drops the Spartans to (3-11-2, 1-5-2 A-Sun) on the year.
The Owls join Jacksonville, North Florida, Mercer and Stetson as teams that have already qualified for the 2010 A-Sun Tournament.
Kennesaw State controlled play throughout the first half keeping possession in the attacking third for most of the period. However, the Owls couldn’t catch a break as the match remained scoreless heading into halftime.
The Black and Gold came out of the locker room with the same intensity as the first half constantly keeping the Spartans on their heels, and they finally broke through in the 49th minute of play.
The Owls were awarded a corner kick with junior
Alyssa Mahan taking the kick. Mahan swung a nice ball in towards goal that freshman
Alma Gardarsdottir got a leg on, and she deflected it past USC Upstate goalkeeper Rachel Collins to give Kennesaw State a 1-0 lead.
Gardarsdottir now leads the team with five goals on the year, while Mahan has recorded a point in six of the Owls eight A-Sun Conference matches this season.
Kennesaw State wasn’t done as they continued to keep their foot on the gas scoring again in the 80th minute this time it was a trio of juniors who teamed up for the goal.
Kristin Kranick fed a through ball to
Katie Schwartz as she was sprinting down the right side of the field. Schwartz gathered and crossed the ball to a wide open
Brittany Vining who took a touch and took a shot from 10 yards out that went in the bottom right corner of the net to give the Owls a 2-0 lead.
Vining talked about the goal after the match.
“When the ball came to Schwartz I knew she was going to cross it and she hit a great ball to me. I had to decide whether to take a touch or just take the shot, but I saw an opening so I took the shot and I was fortunate enough that it went in.”
USC Upstate made a late charge, but the Owl defense was great all night giving them the win.
With the shutout,
Staci Pugh moves into a three-way tie for second place on the all-time A-Sun shutout list with 25 for her career, and she also moved up to 13th place on the all-time A-Sun saves list with 275.
Head Coach Rob King liked what he saw out of his team tonight.
“We controlled the ball for most of the match, and I thought our players did a good job of wanting the ball. When we did get touches tonight we didn’t panic, we made the most of our opportunities. Even though it was scoreless at halftime we stayed active, and we were able to get a few goals and come out with a solid result.”
The Black and Gold outshot USC Upstate 22-4 in the match with Mahan leading the way with five shots.
The Owls will be back in action on Sunday, Oct. 17 as they will host East Tennessee State at 1 p.m.
