BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – With solid defensively play and continuous offensive pressure, Gardner-Webb University defeated Francis Marion University 3-0, Sunday afternoon (Aug. 27) in women's college soccer action.
Gardner-Webb improves to 2-0-0 on the young season, while FMU falls to 0-2-0.
After playing the first 40 minutes of the match to a scoreless tie, the Bulldogs got on the scoreboard at the 41:33 mark of the contest. On the right side of the field, freshman Franchesca Formagie won the ball from a defender and found a cutting Tiffany Greene. Playing the ball through two defenders, Greene, a junior, wound up with the pass just right of the box and flicked it past Francis Marion keeper Jacque Sutphin for a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
"Today was a tale of two halves," head coach Kevin Mounce said. "We had a really hard time adjusting to their style of play to open the game. We knew they would play a defensive style and counter and we would have to just be patient. Their style is hard to play against and their counter attack bothered us in the first half. We made some adjustments at halftime and played well the second half. In the second half we played well and used our depth to our advantage. Our bench came in and did a nice job of wearing them down."
The halftime adjustments by Mounce and his staff paid off for the Bulldogs. In the 55th minute, freshman Sarah Keyser and redshirt-junior Lindsay Gladhill worked a give-and-go to perfection. Keyser received the ball on a breakaway and found Gladhill near the top of the box. Gladhill promptly played it back to Keyser who then beat Sutphin for a 2-0 advantage.
Freshman Nicole Reis found the back of the net for the first goal of her career at the 81:42 mark. After a scramble, junior Brittany Woods came away with the ball near the top of the box and played in back to Reis. Reis then blasted a curling shot 30 yards out that found the lower left of the net, solidifying the 3-0 win.
The Bulldog defense secured its second consecutive shutout. The shutout marked the first time since the opening two games of the 2005 season that GWU had recorded back-to-back shutouts. The Bulldogs opened last season with a 1-0 win against Austin Peay and followed it up with a 2-0 victory over Winthrop.
In goal, sophomore Sarah Wyszynski got the win and recorded five saves. Gardner-Webb outshot the Patriots 15-8, although neither team had a corner kick.
Sutphin recorded a match-high eight saves in the contest for Francis Marion. Freshman Kirby Stenard recorded three of FMU's eight shots.
The Patriots travel to Columbia on Thursday for their first-ever match-up with the University of South carolina. The match will start at 7 p.m.
