Sept. 14, 2005

Final Stats

Asheville, N.C. - Western Carolina scored two quick goals midway through the second half as the Catamounts downed homestanding UNC Asheville, 2-0, at Greenwood Field Tuesday afternoon. With the victory, the Catamounts improve to 5-1-0 to establish the program's best start in this its seventh year of competition, bettering the 4-1-1 record at the beginning of the 2000 campaign.

In addition, Western handed the Bulldogs (3-1-0) their first loss of the season and recorded the first goal allowed on the year by the Bulldogs, ending a run of nearly 334 minutes of scoreless play. Also, Western Carolina held UNCA senior forward Hilary McKay to just one shot on goal. McKay entered the contest as the NCAA leader in both scoring (4.3 points per match) and goals scored (2.0 per match).

The game was evenly played for the most part as each team finished with nine shots each, while the Cats held a 7-1 edge in corner kicks.

UNCA was called for a foul in the 64th minute that gave the Catamounts an indirect kick five yards away from the goal. Lauren Atkinson fed Heather Dittmer, who connected from seven yards out to give Western a 1-0 lead at 64:26.

The Bulldogs tried to counter quickly but got caught by WCU. Keevy Harris, who recorded her team-leading fourth assist on the season, sent a pass to Atkinson who scored from 10 yards out to push the Catamount lead to 2-0 at the 65:52 mark. Atkinson tallied her first goal and assist on the season in the win, playing in the absence of WCU's top scorer Natalie Turgeon, who left the match in the first half with an injury.

"It's a tough loss," said UNC Asheville coach Michele Cornish. "We just couldn't score today, and they got those two quick goals to win the game. We battled hard but just didn't play well enough to get a victory against a well-coached Western Carolina club."

Asheville's best chance to score came in the 20th minute of the first half when sophomore Joy Haynes got loose, but her 15-yard shot was stopped by WCU goalkeeper Alesha Row. Row stopped four Bulldog shots to earn her second straight shutout, third of the year and her seventh for her career, moving her to just 1.5 shutouts away from second place on the WCU all-time list.

Freshman forward Robyn Busha for Asheville had two header chances early in the second half but both shots were wide of the mark.

Western Carolina will stay on the road to play in the Furman Invitational, facing Eastern Kentucky on Friday (Sept. 16) at 5 pm and Gardner-Webb on Sunday (Sept. 18) at Noon at Furman's Stone Stadium.