Oct. 22, 2006

Final Stats

Davidson, N.C. - Wildcat freshman Suzanne Sittko's fifth goal of the season inside the 79th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted Davidson over Western Carolina, 1-0, in Southern Conference play on Sunday afternoon.

The loss was Western's second-straight and dropped the Catamounts to 9-7-2 overall, 5-3-1 in the SoCon. Davidson improved to 9-6-2, 5-3-0 in the league.

Both teams struggled to gain a handle on momentum in the match, battling back-and-forth with not a lot to show on the scoreboard. Western's best opportunity came around the 41st minute as freshman Shannon Fowkes made a run down the right side, but her cross offering could not be run down at the far post and rolled past the end line.

The shot totals at halftime were just 3-to-1 in favor of the Catamounts and corner kicks 3-to-2 in favor of the purple and gold.

The see-saw affair continued through the majority of the second half with both teams making flurries at the other's cage. Senior Meghan Reilly sent a cross that was headed by junior Heather Dittmer and earned a corner kick after it was deflected by the Wildcats.

However, the 0-0 tie was broken when Sittko slipped past the WCU defense and gathered in a ball from junior teammate, Kristen Koehrn, and beat Alesha Row to the lower left side one-on-one.

Following Davidson's marker, Western turned up the intensity, pushing for the tying tally. The Catamounts' best two opportunities came in the 81st minute and 84th minutes. In the first instance, Reilly turned and fired a shot from just inside the box that Davidson keeper, Bevin English, had to dive to her right to push wide of the goal. In the latter, off a Wildcat corner kick, Enlgish again was pressed into action as she punched the ball out of harms way between three Catamount attackers.

WCU freshman goalkeeper Kelly Gulledge earned the staring nod for the Catamounts, recording one save in 45 minutes of action. The senior, Row, was the hard-luck loser after allowing the only goal of the match while also recording three saves in the defeat. For Davidson, English tallied six saves in the winning effort with the shot tally even at eight apiece for the match.

Western wraps up the regular season next Sunday, Oct. 29 at the Catamount Athletic Complex hosting the Elon Phoenix on Senior Day. Kickoff is set for 2:00 pm.