Women's Soccer Defeats Houston, 4-0, in C-USA Opener
Sept. 21, 2001
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After a deadlocked score at the half, the Charlotte women's soccer team came out in the second half ready to play and proved to Houston that the 49ers are one of Conference USA's top programs. The Niners scored four second half goals while outshooting the Cougars in the second half, 10-5, to earn their third straight victory and open Conference USA action with a 4-0 win, at home.
Junior Mikel Casey (Greensboro, N.C./Grimsley) registered her first goal of the season after picking up a loose ball 25 yards from the net. The ball bounced among several players for both teams, but sophomore Abbie Allison (High Point, N.C./SW Guilford) and freshman Leslie Canales (Raleigh, N.C./Enloe) were the last two players to touch the ball before feeding it to Casey for the score at 48:42. About ten minutes later, defender Shannon Roberto (Fairfield, Ohio/Badin) found a streaking Jill Hayes (Hubert, N.C./Swansboro), who then drove past a defender and fired a shot past the Cougar keeper to give the 49ers a 2-0 lead at 58:36. "At half, one of the adjustments we made was to isolate Jill Hayes on their right back," said 49ers head coach Neil Roberts. "It paid off when Hayes scored."
The 49ers' third goal of the match came at 70:23 when senior Dawn Geyer (Bellbrook, Ohio/Alter) scooped up a pass from junior Jennie Leeder (Spring, Texas/Klein) and shot the ball low across the goal mouth into the lower left 90. The scoring for Charlotte was concluded when Casey sent a long serve forward to sophomore Haley Devine (Greer, S.C./Riverside), who turned and found a wide open Christy Johnson (Jacksonville, N.C./Jacksonville), who beat the keeper one-on-one for the score with only 40 seconds remaining in the match at 89:20. All goals tonight by the Charlotte players are their first of the season, respectively, and Johnson's is the first of her career.
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"We're excited about scoring four goals tonight," added Roberts. "Each game, we keep adding more and more positives to our game, as we continue to take our game to the next level." Junior goalkeeper Jenn Howell (Marietta, Ga./McEachern) recorded two saves in her tenth career shutout. A member of the Soccer America National Team of the Week, last week, Howell now stands one shutout behind all-time leader Jessica Brooks (1995-98) in career shutouts in Charlotte history.
The win for Charlotte improves their record to 3-2-1, 1-0-0 in C-USA action. Houston falls to 1-3-1 overall, 0-1-0 in C-USA. The win also continues a streak of 25 consecutive unbeaten matches at home for the 49ers in conference play, dating back to September 29, 1996. The Niners will look to extend that streak on Sunday, September 23, versus Tulane, at 1:00 p.m., at Transamerica Field.
