Sept. 5, 2007

Final Stats

Asheville, N.C. - The Western Carolina women's soccer team was able to overcome an early goal by UNC Asheville and come back to defeat the Lady Bulldogs 2-1 Wednesday afternoon at Greenwood Field in Asheville.

Sophomore forward Rachael Shomper took a perfect lead pass by teammate Lauren Atkinson and squeezed it by the UNCA goalkeeper to score the go ahead goal 22 minutes into the second half. After Shomper gathered the ball she beat two defenders down the middle of the field and put it right off the goalie's fingertips and into the back of the net.

The Lady Bulldogs (1-1-0) struck first in the game, scoring in the eighth minute when Robyn Busha took a cross and blasted it into the goal from 12 yards out to open the scoring. The goal was the first that UNC Asheville had been able to muster in the past three meetings between the two Parkway rivals, a series in which the Catamounts now hold a three game winning streak. It was also the first time that a Western opponent had been able to put a point on the board in the first half all season.

The Catamounts were unfazed by the quick deficit they faced, using pinpoint passing and a suffocating attack to wear down the Asheville defense, eating up time on the clock and never allowing the opposition to catch their breath.

Western coach Tammy DeCesare said that the flow of the game fit right into her squad's style of play.

"We're a possession oriented team," she said. "Our simple philosophy is that if we have the ball we can score, and when we get it, we keep it. I probably say it a thousand times a day, but if we keep it, we score, and the only way to keep it is to pass it."

The Catamounts (2-1-0) took this philosophy to heart and stuck with it even after falling behind. Despite dominating the time of possession in the first half, they only took six total shots, the vast majority coming after three or four players touched the ball on the attack.

Their patience paid off with 25 minutes to go in the first half, when midfielder Arlan Whittle took a ball that had careened off of four Catamounts and put her shot over the UNC Asheville goalkeeper to even the score at one, which is where it stayed until halftime.

Western opened the second frame the same way it ended the first, on a constant attack. This half was characterized by a sudden increase in the number of shots the Catamounts took, and also how quickly into the attack they took them, which Coach DeCesare attributes to a mindset that her team developed.

"I think until we settled down, our thought was let's just get shots on goal," she said. "We'd rather get a shot off than get the ball stolen, so we were thinking that we should be safe and not take the chance of getting the ball stripped and having no chance at all."

After Shomper's goal to put them ahead, the Cats were able to settle down and hold the fort for the rest of the game, and handed UNC Asheville their first loss of the young season.

Western will take a two game overall winning streak into their first home match of the season, Friday night at 7:00 p.m., when the Lady Eagles of Winthrop come to the Catamount Athletic Complex, a place that Coach DeCesare knows that her team will be excited to play at.

"I don't think I have to tell them anything (about playing at home)," she said. "We love playing under the lights. That's our house, we love playing at home, and we take pride in our facility and playing there."