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Spartanburg, S.C. – Haley Gethin's goal in the 87th minute spelled the difference as the USC Upstate women's soccer team opened the 2013 campaign with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over VMI Friday night at County University Soccer Stadium.
Gethin, a sophomore from Cocoa Beach, Fla., and Courtney Deblois, a sophomore from Fort Bragg, N.C., each entered the season without a goal on the college level. They both notched their first career goals to lift the Spartans to the victory for head coach Abby Minihan, who is now 2-0 in season openers at Upstate.
"Haley and Courtney played really great. I am so pleased for them to get their first career goals. I know they are excited. They have worked really hard and I am proud of their effort tonight," said Minihan. "It feels really great to get this win. The girls have worked really hard in the preseason. We didn't want to have to win like that and grind one out, but it turned out that way. I think they knew that they could win this game and were upset we were down a goal. They got a little fire under them at halftime."
After the game was delayed nearly 30 minutes due to rain and lightning, VMI struck first in the 19th minute after an Upstate foul deep in Spartan territory. The Spartans committed a foul 21 yards out from the goal and VMI's Emma Manis stepped up and placed a shot through the defense and into the right side of the net off of the free kick for a 1-0 Keydet lead.
Upstate, which had possessed the ball on VMI's side of the field for much of the first 10 minutes of the game, attempted to quickly tie the game two minutes later. A ball was played forward to Rachel Carr (Rockford, Ill.) and after a VMI defender collided with Keydet keeper Liz Nickerson, the ball squirted off to the right side of the box. However, a second VMI defender managed to chase down the ball and kick it away before Carr could get to the ball.
Upstate had another solid scoring opportunity in the 32nd minute in the first half. Kenzie Major (Rome, Ga.) was played a ball from midfield and was one-on-one with Nickerson. However, her shot from 10 yards out was saved by the Keydet keeper.
Upstate held a 4-3 lead in shots in the first half of play. Nickerson made three saves in the first 45 minutes to lead VMI.
After a back-and-forth first 15 minutes of the second half, Upstate began to pick up the pace offensively. The Spartans took four shots in a span of four minutes before finally cashing in the 67th minute. Carr took the ball down the right side and played a cross to the middle of the box. Major was there for a header, but it skipped off her head and to the foot of Deblois, who put the shot away from eight yards out for the goal and a 1-1 tie.
Upstate dodged a bullet in the 74th minute when Killian Buckley got position deep in the box and took a shot. The ball traveled just beyond the hands of a diving Sarah Plantz (Cartersville, Ga.), but hit the post to stay out of the goal.
With time running down and heading toward overtime, which would have been a second straight overtime game in the series, Gethin came through in the clutch for the Spartans. A loose ball was gathered up in the box by Hailey Venable (Cherryville, N.C.) who laid the ball off for Gethin. Gethin put the shot away with less than four minutes to play to give the Spartans the win.
Upstate finished the game with a 10-6 advantage in shots and improved to 3-0-0 all-time against VMI. The Spartans will take one day off before returning to action Sunday afternoon at 3:00 to face crosstown rival Wofford at County University Soccer Stadium.
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