Mount Olive women shut out Coker

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on October 4, 2006 2:26 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive College's Lyndsay Brennan is on a roll.

The sophomore recorded her first career hat trick on Tuesday at home against Coker (S.C.) to help lead the Trojans to a 7-0 shutout win in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference play.

The Springfield, Va. native has now tallied seven goals in her last three matches.

Despite the impressive individual achievements, Brennan seems more pleased her teams' ability this season to overcome a handful of injuries to key players as Mount Olive (10-5, 5-1 CVAC) recorded its sixth win in seven outings.

"Not having Jessica (Smoot), Jackie (Jimenez) and Gina (Dos Santos) had us worried," she said. "But we all knew they were out and we had to step it up. We still need them, but I think the rest of the team has stepped up and filled their positions well."

Trojans' coach Chris Shaw, who is now 47-32 during his four years at the helm, is hoping all three will return to action soon -- possibly as soon as Saturday's match at Lees-McRae.

"We've been fortunate with our injuries that we've hit a point in the schedule where we aren't playing a lot of powerhouses," Shaw said. "We've been able to get through with good results, and hopefully soon we can get the injured players back in the mix."

Mount Olive had more than enough prowess to get past the Cobras on Tuesday as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.

Emily Escolas scored her second goal of the season in the third minute before Brennan knocked in two of her three goals to make it 3-0 at halftime. Kate Painter and CVAC player of the week, Kirsten White, dished out one assist each, while Caitlyn Wright and April Jacobs had a double-assist on Brennan's first goal.

"When we get the first goal, it gets us moving," Brennan said. "It seems like we've done that the last three games and we've scored at least four goals in all of them."

The momentum continued into the second half as Jacobs, Wright and Painter got into the scoring column to go along with Brennan's final goal. Three of Mount Olive's four goals were double-assisted with Emily Anthony teaming with both White and Lauren Condon for a pair of assists and Brennan and Portia Taylor assisting on another.

Mount Olive finished with 29 shots and consistently peppered Cobras goalies Krista Coleman and Krystal Samayoa, who combined for 11 saves.

"Our offense was a bit stagnant and predictable at the start of the season, but lately we've been keeping teams off-balance," Shaw said. "When we're firing, we're a tough team to play."

Coker (2-8, 1-5 CVAC) managed just seven shots and rarely tested goalie Ali O'Steen and the Trojan defense. O'Steen stopped four shots in MOC's seventh shutout of the season and fourth in five games.

"With these kind of games where you have most of the possession, you can't fall asleep in the midfield and on defense. You have to be ready for a counter attack or a long ball over the top," Shaw said. "I thought we did a good job all over the field today and kept our focus."

The Trojans, who are fourth in the league standings, take to the road for their next three matches, beginning Saturday at Lees-McRae. MOC's next home match is Oct. 18 against archrival Barton.