Sept. 7, 2008

Final Stats

Cullowhee, NC- Western Carolina women's soccer lost 2-1 in double overtime against the visiting Belmont Bruins Sunday afternoon at the Catamount Athletic Complex.

Forty-five seconds into the second overtime period, Belmont midfielder Jamie Loftis scored the golden goal, her first goal of the season, after she headed the ball into the bottom corner past Catamounts goal keeper Caitlin Williams to give the Bruins the victory.

Western Carolina falls to 1-3 on the young season meanwhile the Belmont Bruins improve to 4-1 with the double overtime victory.

"We have been incorporating to the team to play the 90 full minutes and today I thought we did a tremendous job in the first half, said Head Coach Tammy DeCesare. "But in the second half we gave a good team too many opportunities.

The Catamounts looked to be in control of the match, when two minutes into the contest a couple of upperclassmen help set the tone. Junior Nikki Collins made a terrific pass to junior Shannon Fowkes who then took a direct shot inside the box to beat the Belmont goalkeeper Sari Lin to give the Catamounts an early 1-0 lead.

Later in the first half Western Carolina had some more opportunities to increase their lead when at the 14 minute mark junior Nikki Lombardo had an excellent shot opportunity that just went high over the net. Lombardo a minute later got a wonderful cross from teammate Jaycee Patton when Lombardo fired a shot just wide left of the goal.

Western Carolina defensive unit held Belmont's offensive attack to just one shot during the first half of play. The Catamounts out shot their opponent 5-to-1 to finish the first half of play.

Belmont came out in the second half attacking early and it paid off when seven minutes into the half a corner kick by Belmont forward Annie Musacchio went off of Western Carolina defender Jenny Matteson leg and redirected into the net for the goal. The on goal by the Catamounts gave the Bruins a tie score of 1-1.

Western Carolina had an opportunity to regain the lead, but its chance by junior Fowkes went right to keeper Lin for the easy save.

After the second half ended Western Carolina still lead 9-to-4 in shots for the entire match.

"In the second half, Belmont stepped up their level of play and we couldn't match it," DeCesare said. "Credit to Belmont and we just didn't come out focused enough in the second half." Western Carolina had a chance in the first overtime but the shot went wide and the Catamounts finished the game with a 10-to-5 shot total advantage.

The Catamounts next match will be Friday Sept. 12 starting at 2 p.m. at the Yale Tournament against the tournament host Yale.