CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina celebrated Senior Day in style on Sunday as the Catamounts earned their sixth straight victory with a 4-0 win over VMI in women's soccer action at the Catamount Athletics Complex. Later Sunday afternoon, the Catamounts clinched the 2023 Southern Conference regular-season title following a tie between ETSU and Samford in Birmingham.
 
WCU improves to 10-3-3 overall and 7-1 in the Southern Conference. VMI drops to 2-15 and 1-7. This marks the first regular season crown for WCU since winning a share of the 2001 season crown and ends a nine-year run that saw Samford win the outright title or hold a split championship.
 
"It's very humbling. A lot of work went into this from a lot of people," said head coach Chad Miller.  "I'm super proud of the team from determination and togetherness. It means a lot to accomplish this with our coaching staff. I've worked with Nick (Whiting) for a long time and Michael (Mazarky) and Cameron have come on board this year and their help has been incredible. Our alumni built the foundation and it's very humbling and exciting to do this."
 
"It was a great team win," continued Miller. "Getting another shutout and playing everyone was important to us. Our goal heading into the second half was to get a goal, put the game away and then play people. I'm really proud of our back four for what they've done during this stretch in conference play, giving up one goal in the past six matches. That comes from a unit, not just one or two people, and structure within the team. I'm proud of the effort on the defensive side of the ball and effort put in."
 
WCU tallied two goals early in the first half. In the seventh minute, Katelyn Galbraith played a ball into the box that was misplayed by the VMI goalkeeper. Sofia Goclowski corralled the loose ball and fired it into the net for her second goal of the year and a 1-0 lead. Just over five minutes later, Alexis DeMarco netted her third goal of the season and second in as many games with an assist by her sister, Isabella DeMarco. The Catamounts led 2-0 at halftime and held a 13-1 edge in shots.
 
Isabella DeMarco tallied her 10th goal of the year in the 55th minute as Ava Robitaille played a ball in from midfield and DeMarco took a low shot to the right side for a 3-0 lead. DeMarco is the fifth player in program history to score double-digit goals in a season.
 
In the 59th minute, VMI was whistled for a foul in the box and the Catamounts were awarded a penalty kick. Goalkeeper Leanne Trudel attempted the kick and scored her first collegiate goal to cap the scoring. Trudel is believed to be the first Catamount goalkeeper to score on a penalty kick according to available records.
 
WCU outshot VMI 20-4 on the afternoon.
 
Trudel played 60 minutes with a goal and Eden Reece came in for the final 30 minutes. Reece was credited with two saves. The shutout was the ninth of the season for the Catamounts. Jillian Hall made five saves for VMI.
 
The Catamounts conclude the regular season next Sunday, traveling to mountain-rival ETSU for a 2 p.m. match.
 
"Clinching one of the top two seeds was something we talked about during the preseason," said Miller. "One of our team goals was to put ourselves in a position to host and we achieved that today. Playing at home is special, you have your fans here and with it being Homecoming weekend we get some people who don't normally get to see us play and that's exciting. This was a team goal of ours that feels really good to achieve. We'll soon turn our attention to the tournament and doing what it takes to continue playing at this same level."
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's soccer and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @Catamountsoccer).