Sept. 30, 2007

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina women's soccer team, in a match marred by missed opportunities, fell to the UNC Greensboro Spartans, 2-0, on a picturesque Sunday afternoon at the Catamount Athletic Complex.

UNCG (4-3-1, 1-0-0 Southern Conference) started off the scoring at the 29:22 mark when midfielder Katelynn Donovan sliced through the Catamount defense and slipped a low shot past WCU goalkeeper Caitlin Williams and into the bottom left corner of the goal. With five minutes to go in the match, UNCG struck again on Kristin Player's shot that found the back of the net.

The Cats were unable to find anything positive offensively against a very stout UNCG defense that held strong the entire match. Western was not devoid of some quality chances on goal, but could not break through and put any goals on the board. For the entirety of the match, it seemed that the breaks that can swing the momentum of a match were just out of reach for WCU.

"Our girls battled today," WCU Coach Tammy DeCesare said. "The effort was there, the ideas were there, and it was just a matter of executing. It just seemed that the ball was not bouncing our way today."

UNC Greensboro was able to out shoot the Catamounts 12-8, with four corner kicks to Western's one. The game had a noticeable physical nature throughout, with a total of 27 fouls called, two yellow cards given out, and many more instances that although they did not show up on the stat sheet, characterized the attitude of the match.

The loss drops the Catamounts to 5-6-0 overall and 0-2-0 in Southern Conference play. They will look to pick up their first conference win of the season this Friday night at home against Appalachian State. WCU will look to extend their winning streak over the Mountaineers to three games, and go up in the all-time series between the to fierce rivals 7-2. Kick off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.