Princeton nets shutout soccer win over Goldsboro
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on April 17, 2012 1:46 PM
Princeton needed fewer than 10 minutes to set the tempo offensively against Goldsboro on Monday evening.
The Cougars spent the majority of the evening trying to recover.
The Bulldogs (8-4-1, 1-0 CC) dominated possession of the ball, found open teammates in space and had four different scorers in a 4-0 victory at Cougar Stadium. It was the Carolina 1-A Conference opener for both teams.
McKenzie Smale lobbed a shot over Goldsboro senior keeper Sarah Moore's head in the sixth minute to give Princeton a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars threatened in the eighth minute when Holly Pittard won the ball near midfield, dribbled past multiple defenders before her shot on goal was saved by Bulldogs' keeper Amber Hill.
Ashley Jacobs' corner kick in the 15th minute deflected off Moore's fingertips and into the goal as the margin grew to 2-0.
Pittard's shot in the 27th minute missed just wide. Princeton held an 8-4 edge in shots on goal in the first half and a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks.
"We were trying to find each other spread out and get the ball where the defense isn't," Princeton head coach Trent Heil said. "We owned the space today and that's why we were so successful."
Jessica Brush's free kick from outside the 18-yard box in the 51st minute increased the Bulldogs' lead to 3-0. Kaytlin Casey capped the scoring by collecting a rebound and firing it past Moore.
Goldsboro (2-4-2, 0-1) struggled to generate scoring chances and finished with just eight shots on goal. The Cougars routinely few passes to their forwards only be to turned away by Bulldogs' defenders before getting off a quality shot. Hill recorded six saves for her sixth shutout of the season.
"That's a good team," Heil said of Goldsboro. "They have some real good weapons on their team. Defensively, we filled in the gaps pretty well so that when they did get there we were jumping on that."
Princeton visits South Johnston today. Goldsboro travels to Rosewood on Wednesday.