Oct. 5, 2007

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina women's soccer team, behind a dominating performance in all aspects of the game, defeated rival Appalachian State, 3-0, in front of a raucous crowd Friday evening at the Catamount Athletic Complex.

The Catamounts opened the match up in full attack mode, going after ASU freshman goalkeeper Caroline Clarke from the opening whistle. A mere nine minutes into the match, WCU freshman midfielder Erin Hamilton collected a cross by teammate Lauren Atkinson and fired a shot that deflected off of Clarke's fingertips and into the upper left corner of the net. It was Hamilton's first goal of the season, and also the first goal let up by Clarke in over 135 minutes of play. Atkinson picked her fourth assist on the year, putting her at the top of the team.

Five minutes later, the Cats struck again, when Shannon Fowkes took her own rebound at near point blank range and put her second attempt into the goal, putting the Cats up 2-0, which was where the score stayed until halftime. The lead for the Catamounts was a testament to their ability to take over the game on the offensive side, something they had been unable to do in previous games. The first half was seemingly spent entirely with the Cats on offense, shown by their 8-3 margin in shots over the Mountaineers.

"We knew that Appalachian was going to bring a different style of play than us tonight," said WCU Coach Tammy DeCesare. "I told the girls that the game was going to come down to who could make their style of play work, and who would play their style the best. We are an attacking type of team, and we needed to make the pace fit that style. Frankly, the girls showed up united, as a team, and gave a total team effort."

The Catamounts did not come out of the locker room complacent with their two goal advantage, and looked to tack on more. At the 67:39 mark, Nikki Collins played a brilliant give-and-go with teammate Erin Hamilton, who redirected a pass right to Collins in the middle of the box for the shot and goal into the lower left hand corner of the goal. It was the first goal of the year for Collins, and the first assist for Hamilton, owner of a goal already on the night.

As the second half rolled on, the play between the two teams became more physical as both squads attempted to take hold of the momentum. Appalachian was able to get more of an attacking pace in their favor, but as they have all year, the Catamount defense stepped up and thwarted any thought of a comeback. For the ninth time the season, Western did not allow a second half goal, and goalkeeper Caitlin Williams picked up her fourth shut out, helping WCU win their third straight match against App. State and keeping Coach DeCesare undefeated against the SoCon rival.

The win was WCU's first in the Southern Conference this year, and moved them up three spots in the rankings into a tie for fourth at 1-2-0. The top four teams in the conference received first round home games in the conference tournament, so Coach DeCesare knew this was an important victory.

"It's a relief," she said. "We felt that this was a big win for us. The girls have said that October is their favorite month of the season, so it was nice to start it off on a good note."

The Cats move to 6-6-0 overall on the season, while the Mountaineers fall to 6-2-3, and 0-2-1 in the SoCon. Up next for Western is another home date with The Citadel Bulldogs, this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at The Catamount Athletic Complex. For those unable to make it out to the game, live stats will be broadcast through Gametracker on catamountsports.com