LYNCHBURG, Va. – No. 4 seed Kennesaw State fell 1-0 to No. 5 Eastern Kentucky in the ASUN Conference Tournament Quarterfinals Thursday night at Osborne Field.
The Owls saw their title aspirations and three consecutive trips to the ASUN Conference Championship end after a hard-fought defeat at the hands of the Colonels in the opening round of the conference tournament. KSU created scoring chances throughout the match as the Owls tied a season-high with 16 shots and had seven on-goal. Maddy Lemery's goal in the 23rd minute proved to be the difference maker in the 1-0 setback.
Kendall Higgs led the Kennesaw State offense with five shots on the night and four coming on goal.
Macie Rainwater,
Aly Bryan Erin Miller, and
Hayley Dekker each attempted two shots.
Allanah Blye was strong in net, posting six saves and limiting the Eastern Kentucky offense to just one goal. The Duncan, S.C. native finished with at least five saves in nine of 14 games this season.
Both teams played at a quick pace to open the contest as both offenses came out strong creating multiple scoring chances throughout the first 20 minutes.
Five different Owls took a shot in the first half, and KSU had eight total through 45 minutes of action. Higgs created a near-scoring chance 13 minutes in off a throw-in when she placed a cross into the box, and
Aly Bryan was there for the header and pushed it just right of the right crossbar.
Lemery led all players with 10 shots, and her sixth attempt put the Colonels up 1-0 in the 23rd minute.
KSU began the second half aggressively and with a sense of urgency, posting eight shots in the first 20 minutes. Bryan nearly connected on the equalizer in the 58th minute as she attempted to chip the ball over the EKU goalkeeper but sailed it just high.
Tianna Rivera struck a beautiful ball moments later with her left foot from outside the box, but EKU's Carly Dean made an excellent diving stop to push the shot wide.
Holding on to the 1-0 lead, EKU dropped more defenders to try to keep Kennesaw State from finding the equalizer late in the match. The Owls kept pushing the ball into EKU territory time and time again, looking for the game-tying goal but were not able to find the net.
To keep up with the latest on the Kennesaw State women's soccer team, follow the team on Twitter
@KSUOwlNation and
@KSUOwlsSoccer or by liking Kennesaw State University on
Facebook.
