By: KSU Sports Information
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KENNESAW, Ga. – Redshirt-freshman
Katrina Frost scored for the third time in as many games to help give the Kennesaw State women’s soccer team a thrilling 1-0 win over the College of Charleston in its 2011 home opener at KSU Soccer Stadium on Friday night.
The win improves the Owls to 2-1 for the season, while the loss drops the Cougars to 1-1 on the year.
Friday night’s win also extends KSU’s winning streak in home openers to ten straight matches as they have never lost a home opener in program history.
The first half was a defensive battle in which both teams only combined for a total of seven shots. The best scoring opportunity of the half came in the 26th minute off the foot of Frost. She blasted a shot with her right foot from 25 yards out that banged against the crossbar to keep the game tied.
The second half was filled with action throughout the period starting in the 49th minute as senior
Alyssa Mahan put a through ball to the right foot of senior
Brittany Vining. Vining could only get the edge of her foot on the ball as it sailed wide keeping the game scoreless.
Kennesaw State finally broke through in the 61st minute as it capitalized on a corner kick opportunity. Mahan started the corner off by sending a bending ball in towards goal. Freshman
Nicole Calder jumped up and got her head on it, but her shot was blocked by a College of Charleston defender. The ball then fell right to the feet of Frost who put it past CofC goalkeeper Cricket Wise to give the Black and Gold a 1-0 lead.
Once the Owls got on the scoreboard the game took a turn becoming much more physical as both sides seemed to turn it up a notch. The intensity came to a boil in the 78th minute as CofC’s McCallie Jones picked up a yellow card for an aggressive tackle on freshman
Julia Nelson.
KSU played smart in the final 12 minutes not letting their emotions get the best of them as they held on for the 1-0 win.
“This was a great win for the girls tonight,” head coach
Rob King said. “We needed to win a close, hard-fought game and we did. We have 11 new players this year and it just takes a little time to come together as a team. We’re not the finished article yet, but we have improved a lot in a week and we will continue that development with each game.”
The two teams tied with 12 shots a piece to end the game, while the College of Charleston had the edge in corner kicks 4-2.
Junior goalkeeper
Melissa Hutto was solid in net for the Owls making five saves to earn the first win of her collegiate career.
Kennesaw State is now 8-2-3 against Southern Conference teams, and it also remained undefeated against the College of Charleston moving to 4-0 all-time against the Cougars.
The Black and Gold will now travel to Auburn, Ala. to take on SEC power Auburn on Sunday, Aug. 28 at 8 p.m. eastern time.
