Penalty kicks go for Mount Olive women

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on October 24, 2004 9:45 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE --In a match that saw four goals by penalty kicks -- two by each team -- Mount Olive College's Melanie Cobb and April Jacobs scored two goals apiece and Caitlyn Wright came off the bench to record two assists to lead Mount Olive to a 6-2 victory over Queens in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference women's soccer Saturday at Trojan Field.

The win was the Trojans' first ever in 11 tries over Queens, which defeated Mount Olive 8-0 last year.

Queens (7-8-1, 5-4-1) scored from a foul called in the box barely five minutes into the match. Hayley Pasko put in the ensuing penalty kick to give the Royals a 1-0 lead at the 4:59 mark.

Emily Escolas had a second opportunity in the 14th minute and made the most of it, taking a pass from Jacobs, beating the defender and catching the goalkeeper out of position for her 12th goal of the season and a 1-1 tie. The Trojans (15-3-0 overall, 7-2-0 CVAC) needed less than five minutes to take its first lead when Gina Dos Santos served the ball in the box to Cobb, who scored her conference-leading 23rd goal of the season. The goal put the Trojans ahead to stay.

Cobb added to her goal-scoring total in the 36th minute when her shot deflected off the keeper and she recaptured the ball for a wide-open shot to put the Trojans ahead 3-1 at halftime. Wright recorded the first of her two assists on the goal.

The opening minutes of the second half were almost a carbon copy of the beginning in the first half, as another Mount Olive foul in the box resulted in a Queens penalty kick. Pasko put the ball home again and Queens pulled within 3-2 less than four minutes into the second half.

It took only four minutes for another foul to be called in the box, resulting in yet another penalty kick. But this time, it was a Queens foul and a Trojan PK. Jacobs made the shot to once again give the Trojans a two-goal lead.

In the 64th minute, the Trojans may have executed the play of the game.

After a Queens foul in the Mount Olive zone, Wright served the ball to Cobb at midfield. Cobb outraced a pair of Queens defenders and served a perfect ball to Dos Santos, who scored from 15 yards out to extend the lead to 5-2. The goal extended Dos Santos' goal-scoring streak to seven consecutive matches.

Mount Olive closed out the scoring in the 76th minute when a Queens foul in the box resulted in Jacobs' second penalty kick of the match.

For the match, Mount Olive outshot Queens 25-7. At one point in the second half, Queens had only three total shots - two by penalty kick.

Mount Olive, which has gone from 3-15 and an 11th-place finish in the CVAC standings to 15-3 in one season, is now assured of finishing no lower than third this year and still has a shot at a second-place finish in the regular season standings. The Trojans are already assured of hosting a first-round match November 2 in this year's CVAC Tournament.