Lady Trojans fall to Anderson

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on November 1, 2009 1:51 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive outshot Anderson in the second half and for the match, but a goal midway through the first half was the difference as the Trojans fell to Anderson 1-0 in Conference Carolinas women's soccer Saturday at Amon Field. The match was the regular season finale for both teams.

Despite the loss, Mount Olive is still assured a berth in the 2009 Conference Carolinas Women's Soccer Tournament, which gets underway Monday.

Anderson (10-8-0, 8-3-0) made the most of its first shot attempt of the day as Kristin Page crossed the ball to Catherine Thomas, who scored from 15 yards out at the 22:48 mark. Anderson went on to outshoot Mount Olive 4-2 in the first half, but goalkeeper Jenn Sastre made a save on Page's shot to keep it a one-goal game at halftime.

Smoot and Sastre were among six Trojan seniors to be honored prior to the match during Senior Day ceremonies, joining Nia Celata, Lauren Condon, Rebeccah Hecke and Carly Lavallee.

After both teams changed goalkeepers during the break, it was Mount Olive with early pressure to start the second half. The Trojans had three shots and two corner kicks in the first five minutes, but were unable to score the equalizer. On the other end, Mount Olive goalkeeper Lyndsey McIntyre made saves on a pair of close-range shots by Jessica Kleinberg to keep Anderson from adding to its lead.

Mount Olive had its best scoring chance in the 86th minute after a foul led to a free kick from 30 yards out. Cara Paxson's shot appeared to be headed into the upper 90, but the ball caromed off the top right corner of the crossbar. The Trojans did not have another shot attempt the remainder of the match.

The Trojans finished with a 10-9 shot advantage over Anderson, including 8-5 in the second half. McIntyre finished with four saves in the second, while Sastre had one save in the first half for Mount Olive. Whitfield had one save in the first half for Anderson and Alyssa Stephens recorded four saves in the second half.

The Mount Olive players already knew going into Saturday's match that they would be the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament and would play at top-seeded Belmont Abbey in the first round, regardless of the result against Saturday. Smoot admits the team had to work harder to get motivated.

 "I think we were a little relaxed since we already knew we were in the tournament and whatever happened today wouldn't move us up or down," said Smoot, a fifth-year senior from Swansboro, N.C. "But it was obvious that the team really wanted to get a win for the seniors and that meant a lot to us."

Anderson moved up to the No. 3 seed with the win and will play host to No. 6 Erskine in the first round.

Mount Olive faces Belmont Abbey in the first round for the second consecutive year and the two teams have met in the conference tournament in four of the last five years. Match time is 2 p.m. at Belmont, N.C.