By: by Matthew Farhadi
Game Notes
Live Stats
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team is coming off its best moment of their young season, and they look to carry it over into Sunday afternoon’s matchup against Belmont as the Owls close out their Atlantic Sun Conference opening weekend.
Junior Brittany Vining had a moment that every soccer player dreams of scoring a game-winning goal in the final seconds of a game to give her team a huge conference win, and that is exactly what Vining did on Friday night giving the Owls a thrilling, 2-1, win over Lipscomb.
With the game tied, and extra time closing in on the Black and Gold (4-3-1, 1-0 A-Sun), Vining came up big at just the right time. Junior Alyssa Mahan was pushing the ball forward down the right side of the field, and saw an open Vining streaking down the left side towards the goal. Mahan crossed the ball over to Vining, who settled it down inside the box with one touch, and blasted a shot that slid underneath Lipscomb goalkeeper Erin Zerio into the back of the net to send the whole Owls bench into a frenzied celebration.
After the match, Vining gave her thoughts on the thrilling final play. “All I was thinking was that I wanted to get a good touch,” said Vining, who now has two goals on the season to go along with three assists. “After the ball was on the ground I got my head up and just focused on driving the ball towards goal, and it worked out perfectly.”
Kennesaw State will now be shifting their focus towards Belmont as the Owls look to open up conference play with a 2-0 record for the second year in a row.
Belmont (1-6, 0-1 A-Sun) was picked to finish in third in the A-Sun Preseason Poll and are coming off a 10-6-4 record last season. Under fifth-year head coach Lisa Howe, the Bruins return eight starters, including junior goalkeeper Sari Lin who has a 2.21 GAA this season. Belmont is coming off a, 1-0, overtime loss to Mercer on Friday night.
Kennesaw State is 4-1-2 all-time against Belmont, but the Black and Gold have won the last two meetings in the series.
The match is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. eastern time and 2 p.m. central time.
