Women's Soccer 8/30/2012 12:00:00 AM

Bulldogs Break Through with 5-1 Victory Over USC Upstate

Box Score

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

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate women's soccer team allowed a trio of first-half goals on Thursday evening and fell 5-1 to UNC Asheville at County University Stadium in non-conference action.

The Spartans (1-4) drop their fourth straight contest as they continue to search for their first home victory of the year, while Asheville (1-3) snags its first win of the season after opening the 2012 campaign with three straight losses.

The Bulldogs jumped on top in the 13th minute when Kaitlyn Eckert found Paige Trent in the box and the freshman slipped a defender and fired a strike inside the left post to give Asheville the early lead.

Eckert lined up for a free kick 90 seconds later just outside the box and drilled a shot out of the reach of Spartan keeper Sarah Plantz to double the Bulldog lead and make it 2-0.

With time ticking away in the final minute of the first half Asheville struck again, as Trent recorded her second goal of the game and the season when she finished to make it a 3-0 Bulldog advantage heading to intermission.

Asheville continued to add to its lead in the second half, and again it came off the foot Trent, who made it a hat trick in the 54th minute to give her team a 4-0 lead.

Upstate got in on the scoring in the 57th minute when Erika Kotterer lined up from near midfield fired a shot toward goal that cleared the leaping effort of Asheville keeper Heather Muller and grazed the cross bar before finding the back of the net. The score for Kotterer was her first collegiate goal and pulled the Spartans to within three at 4-1.

Asheville tacked on one more goal in the 67th minute when Kennedy Garrett sent a deflected pass to Bria West at the top of the box and the freshman put a lid on the scoring and gave the Bulldogs their first victory of the season.

Upstate was outshot 22-8 in the contest, but tallied four corner kicks to just a pair for the Bulldogs.

Plantz was the tough-luck loser for the Spartans in goal, picking up six saves but surrendering all five Asheville goals. Muller notched her first win for the Bulldogs as she stopped one Upstate shot and allowed the only goal for the Spartans.

Upstate returns to action on Tuesday evening when they welcome Gardner-Webb to town for another non-conference showdown. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at County University Stadium.

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