By: by Matthew Farhadi
Box Score
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team got a goal and an assist from junior
Alyssa Mahan and a first half goal from junior
Katie Scott to give it a key Atlantic Sun Conference road win over Campbell, 2-0, on Thursday night at the Eakes Athletic Complex.
The win improves the Owls to (7-6-1, 4-3 A-Sun) for the season, while the loss drops the Fighting Camels to (6-8-1, 3-4 A-Sun) on the year. The victory also keeps the Black and Gold at a perfect 6-0-0 all-time against Campbell.
Kennesaw State had the first quality scoring opportunity of the match in the 12th minute of play. Junior
Kristin Marietta made a nice move to get past a Campbell defender and took a shot with her left foot from just outside the box that sailed just high to keep the game scoreless.
The Black and Gold opened the scoring in the 31st minute on Scott’s second goal of the season. Freshman
Alma Gardarsdottir started the play off as she dribbled the ball all the way up from midfield, and put a through ball down the left side to Mahan. Mahan then crossed the ball to the feet of a streaking Scott who took a touch, and put it beautifully past Campbell goalkeeper Ryann Torrero in the bottom left corner of the net.
With her assist, Mahan continues her solid conference play recording a point in five of the Owls seven A-Sun matches this season.
Mahan wasn’t done with just an assist as she tallied the Black and Gold’s second goal of the match on one of the prettiest strikes you will ever see in the 72nd minute. Junior
Shelby Cosby caused a turnover in the attacking third, and deflected the ball right to Mahan. Mahan took a couple dribbles and then blasted a shot from 25 yards out that tucked in on the top right corner of the goal to give the Owls a 2-0 lead.
Kennesaw State played some stingy defense the rest of the second half doing a great job of keeping the Campbell offense off-balance all night to secure the win.
Staci Pugh was solid in net registering her fourth shutout of the year making six saves in the win. Kennesaw State outshot Campbell 12-10.
Head Coach Rob King knows tonight was a big step for his squad, and he looks to see more of those as the regular season starts to wind down.
“Tonight was a superb team performance,” King said. “We looked like a team that knew what they were doing. We had great defending, great goalkeeping and two excellent goals tonight. If we continue building on this performance, I expect a terrific run of games.”
The Owls will have some time off before they continue conference play on Friday, October 15 when they host USC Upstate at 7 p.m. at KSU Soccer Stadium.
