Southern Miss
Charlotte
Soccer Blanks Charlotte for First Conference Win
10/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss women's soccer team earned its first Conference USA victory of the season with a 1-0 victory over Charlotte on Friday afternoon at the Southern Miss Soccer Complex. Freshman Kiersten Bradley scored the game-winning goal in the second minute of the match; snapping a five game losing streak for the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss is now 3-6-3 and 1-2-0 in conference play.
Heading into Friday's game, Southern Miss hadn't scored a goal in more than 540 minutes of play, but just one minute and 25 seconds after kickoff, Bradley was determined to change that. Charlotte's defense made an error in passing and Bradley was there to swoop in, steal the ball and beat the keeper one on one. The goal was Bradley's second of the season.
The rest of the game was action-packed with both teams playing, possessing and generating good scoring opportunities. The Golden Eagles earned eight total shots in the first half (four on goal), compared to Charlotte's seven shots (three on goal).
With the wind against them in the second half, the Golden Eagles battled hard on defense. Southern Miss had to match the physical play of Charlotte as the 49ers battled to try to even the score.
"I think it was very demanding on our bodies, but it became more of a mental game," defender Kay Kay Hypolite said. "They came at us hard. We had to push through to the end."
Junior goalkeeper Brittany Taylor made six huge saves in the last 45 minutes, bringing her game total to nine.
Bradley tallied three total shots in the match, while Stephanie Garcia added two. Rikke Randrup, Ashton Stennis and Breann Hedin got one shot apiece for the Golden Eagles.
"I give a lot of credit to our forwards today. Kiersten Bradley did a really good job of holding the ball, pushing the ball forward and running at people," Hypolite said. "I think the forwards did a great job of keeping the ball on their end of the field and keeping us in the attack."
This was the first ever win for the Golden Eagles against the Charlotte 49ers.
"This was a big win for us. We're proud," Hypolite said. "We really wanted to win and show everyone in the conference that we can compete, and that we want to go to the conference championship."
Southern Miss is on the road for Sunday's C-USA matchup against Louisiana Tech. Kickoff is at 5:00 p.m. in Ruston, La.
