CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina used a four-goal barrage in the opening 45 minutes to propel the Catamounts to a 5-0 victory over eighth-seeded Wofford on Friday night in the Southern Conference Quarterfinals hosted at the Catamount Athletics Complex. 

Western Carolina improves to 11-4-3 on the season and Wofford finishes the season with a 5-11-4 mark. With the win, WCU advances to Sunday's SoCon semifinals against #4 seed Furman which defeated #5 UNCG 3-2 in a PK shootout earlier in the day on Friday afternoon. 

"We wanted to get off to a good start tonight being able to play at home in the SoCon tournament," said 2023 SoCon Coach of the Year Chad Miller. 

"It was nice to see some different people put the ball in the back of the net, and I thought we really were able to put Wofford in a lot of bad situations late in the first half and were fortunate to finish some off. I felt that the second half was a bit sloppy, but it was good to have a lead and be able to rest people." 

Despite multiple scoring opportunities early, the two teams remained in a scoreless deadlock for the opening 26 minutes before SoCon Offensive Player of the Year Isabella DeMarco crossed a ball into the box just outside of the 18-yard mark to her sister Alexis DeMarco, who beat the Wofford keeper to the left side to give the Catamounts a 1-0 lead. Alexis picked up her fourth goal of the season and third in the last four contests. 

Just two minutes later, freshman Maddie Lopez put a ball into the box that squirted away from the Wofford defense, and junior Kirsten Hahn buried it home to extend the WCU lead to 2-0. It marked Hahn's second goal of the season and the first tally against a SoCon foe. 

In the 34th minute, Hahn put another shot on frame that was headed in by a Terriers defender for friendly fire on an own goal to push the Western Carolina advantage to 3-0. 

In the final moments of the first half, Mackenzie Megill gained possession in the attacking half and put a shot on the cage that deflected off the crossbar before junior Sophie Burchfield came in and banged it home to give WCU a 4-0 lead at the break. 

Western Carolina was able to put one more in the back of the net on Friday as Ava Robitalle connected on her first of the season in the 77th minute as WCU claimed the 5-0 quarterfinal win over Wofford. 

WCU held a 23-11 advantage in shots with a 14-2 edge in shots on goal. Isabella DeMarco tallied five shots and Naya Marcil had four shots in the contest. The Catamounts spread the shots on frame around as 14 players each put a shot on goal in the contest. Leanne Trudel played for 70 minutes in the victory with a pair of saves as redshirt sophomore Eden Reece appeared for the final 20 minutes. 

The Catamounts advance to Sunday's semifinal to be played in Cullowhee with kickoff set for 1 p.m. against #4 Furman. WCU looks to avenge a 2-1 defeat that came at the hands of Furman in Cullowhee on the regular season.

The match will be streamed on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats on CatamountSports.com. The winner punches a ticket to the SoCon Championship next weekend. 

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