FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Beall, dbeall@uscupstate.edu

Box Score (PDF)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The USC Upstate women's soccer team allowed a goal in the first half and three more in the second half Sunday afternoon and fell 4-0 at the hands of Jacksonville at the Ashley Sports Complex in Atlantic Sun Conference action.

Jacksonville improves to 8-6-3 overall with the victory and 5-2-2 in the Atlantic Sun as they take the No. 5 seed in the upcoming A-Sun Championship. The Spartans end the season at 3-15 overall and 1-8 in league action.

After winning just two games a year ago and going winless in conference play, first-year head coach Abby Minihan led the Spartans to an A-Sun victory and three shutout wins. Upstate lost five games by two goals or less as the Spartans continued to play conference games down to the wire.

The Spartans went on a streak the final two weeks of the season that saw the defense post 196 consecutive scoreless minutes including a conference shutout of Lipscomb and over four straight halves of soccer without allowing a score. The Spartans allowed nine fewer goals over the course of Minihan's first year at the helm of the Upstate women's soccer program.

The Dolphins dominated the opening 20 minutes of the game, peppering the Upstate defense with shot after shot until finally breaking through in the 23rd minute. Becca Massip played a ball to the middle the box for a wide open Kaitlyn Bassett who settled the pass and finished to the lower left corner past a diving Plantz to give Jacksonville the first-half lead.

Upstate's lone chance in the first half came in the final minute of the period when Samantha Seelinger played a cross in the box but Michelle Calmeyn's run was a split second late and Dolphin goalkeeper Marleigh Mlinac snagged the ball to give Jacksonville the 1-0 lead heading to intermission.

Just over a minute into the second half Plantz came off her line and Bassett dribbled around the keeper and finished into a wide open net to make it a 2-0 Dolphin lead. Miranda Fyfe was credited with the assist as Bassett recorded her second goal of the contest.

Marie Weckhurst added some insurance for Jacksonville in the 63rd minute, finding a rebound and finishing inside the right post to give the Dolphins a 3-0 lead and Karley Bush capped the scoring in the 88th minute when she converted a penalty kick to give JU a 4-0 victory.

Plantz tallied 11 saves in 68 minutes of action, while Ellen Bright recorded 22 minutes of action between the posts in her second appearance of the season.

Thank you for following Upstate women's soccer all season long on your mobile device, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.