Sept. 16, 2007

Final Stats

Johnson City, Tennessee - Behind a controversial penalty kick late in the second half, the East Tennessee State women's soccer team defeated Western Carolina, 1-0, Sunday afternoon in the final game of the inaugural ETSU Invitational in Johnson City, Tennessee. The Catamounts finished the tournament with a 1-1 record and a runner-up finish. After the match, WCU goalkeeper Caitlin Williams was named the ETSU Invitational Defensive MVP. Two of her Catamount teammates, forward Rachael Shomper and midfielder Heather Dittmer, joined Williams on the All-Tournament team for the efforts.

Both defenses were in top form throughout the game, which was scoreless until ETSU freshman Kelly Brinkman put her penalty shot past Catamount goalkeeper Caitlin Williams for the game's only score in the 72nd minute.

Despite the loss, the freshman Williams still earned tournament Defensive MVP honors. For the weekend, she recorded 10 saves and allowed only the single goal in two games, continuing her impressive level of play that has been shown throughout her rookie campaign. She made six saves on the day, raising her season total to 33 in over 500 minutes of play. With the additional six saves, Williams moves into the top spot in the Southern Conference, just ahead of Wofford's Katie McChesney, who has 31 saves on the year.

The two teams ended the game deadlocked at 10 shots a piece, with four of Western's shots on target, and ETSU with seven shots on goal. WCU (4-3-0) continued their season-long streak of spreading the shots around, where seven different players combined for the shot total. Kellie Oberholtzer and Nikki Collins led the Cats with two shots a piece. The ETSU (3-1-2) goal was only the fifth let up by the Catamounts on the entire season, and kept them in second place in the SoCon with a 0.71 goals-per-game average.

The Cats look to rebound and get back on the winning track when the travel to Boiling Springs, N.C. to take on the Lady Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb. They will continue their six-game road swing the following Sunday when they face the Charlotte 49ers.