By Berry Aldridge, Staff Writer
This past week, the Armstrong State University Women’s soccer team opened up Wednesday, Oct. 7 with a 3-1 loss vs. rival Clayton State, then Saturday, Oct. 10, the Pirates bounced back with a 3-0 win vs. Young Harris College. The split moves Armstrong to sixth in the Peach Belt Conference with a 3-1-2 record.
In the week’s first game against Clayton State, junior Sarah Olin played a pass to sophomore Amanda Green who put the Pirates on the board first in the 17th minute. Unfortunately it would prove to be the Pirates only goal of the day.
With only three and a half minutes left in the first half, Clayton State tied the game with a flurry of shots back to back until one found the back of the net.
15 minutes into the second half, Clayton State put two goals in within the span of four minutes, ending any threat of defeat. The score would settle there and the Pirates dropped their first conference game of the season.
Senior keeper, Morgan Luckie, finished with four saves on the day and sophomore Jenny Allen led the Pirates with five shots on goal.
Saturday however, the Pirates were able to finish their chances and they came out firing on all cylinders.
In the first 90 seconds of the contest, Armstrong tallied two goals to effectively gain every ounce of momentum possible. The first goal came when Jenny Allen took the kickoff into Mountain Lion territory and fired a long range shot. Initially, the shot was saved, but senior Taylor Valley rebounded the ball and netted it for her second goal of the year.
Just one minute later, Green added another goal, her third of the year and second of the week, to give the Pirates a 2-0 advantage.
Just before the half, Olin headed a cross into the crossbar which was then gathered by Allen and kicked past the goalie for the Pirates third score of the day.
During halftime, it began to lightning and rain, preventing the start of the second half by about a half hour. When play resumed, the Pirate defense was unrelenting. Young Harris only managed four shots the entire game, all of which were saved by Luckie.
The Pirates finished with an impressive stat line for the day. Armstrong got off 26 shots compared to Young Harris’s four. Armstrong also had a 12-0 advantage in corner kicks.
Head Coach Eric Faulconer said, “We were really hoping to take both games this week, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We had a good start against Clayton, but our lack of finishing really hurt us and Clayton took advantage of their limited chances. I liked our response on Saturday. We didn’t let Wednesday’s loss carry over and we got off to a quick start. We need to take care of business from now on out and I am confident that this team has the ability to do just that.”
The Pirates took the field Tuesday, Oct. 13 when they traveled to Carrollton, GA to face off against the University of West GA Wolves. They then travel to play Georgia College on Saturday, Oct. 17 in another important PBC matchup.
