PEMBROKE – UNCP peppered Pfeiffer
goalkeeper Suzie Hinman with 23 shots, including 11 in a dominating
second half effort, and the Lady Braves successfully opened up
their 2007 campaign with a 1-0 victory over the visiting Falcons
Thursday evening at Varsity Grounds.
Sarah Day scored her first goal since Oct. 14, 2006, with just
more than three minutes left to play in the opening stanza, but it
was a dominating effort by the Black and Gold (1-0-0) defense that
left Pfeiffer (0-1-0) wanting for much of the night. Hinman tallied
13 saves against a high-octane UNCP offense, with Lady
Braves' keeper Whitney Beverly that came away with the clean
sheet on a pair of stops.
The win improved UNCP's record in season opening contests
to 4-2-0 and upped their record in home openers to 5-1-0.
“It's great to open with a win,” said UNCP
head coach Lars
Andersson. “Pfeiffer is a good team that is very well
coached so a win against them is very impressive. We were really
shaky in the first 30 minutes of the game, but I thought we sorted
things out and had a dominating second half.
“When you outshoot someone 23-5, you expect to put in a
few more goals, but we still have a lot of time to fix things.
Tonight was a total team effort. The veterans played very steady
for us at the end and the new players stepped up and played
well.”
Despite the shaky start, UNCP went mettle to mettle with the
Lady Falcons from the get go, taking much of the advantage of play
despite struggling to find its groove. The Black and Gold took 12
of the game's first 16 shots, but it was not until the 13th
that the Lady Braves finally struck gold. Lefke Boysen, who starred
for UNCP during the 2003 campaign, announced her return in style,
taking a game-best six shots while assisting on Day's goal at
the 41:47 mark.
Albeit the final 10 minutes of the contest, the second half
would be painted all Black and Gold. Pfeiffer would find just one
shot – Megan Reaves' prayer in the 58th minute –
but never really threatened. The Lady Falcons did manage to turn up
the tempo with 10 minutes to go, but struggled to inch within a
sniff of the UNCP goal.
The Lady Braves will now take more than a week off from action
before suiting up again on September 1 when the team packs up their
show and travels to Gaffney, S.C., for a 7 p.m. tilt with the
Limestone Lady Saints. The Lady Braves will be back at home again
on September 5 when they host Queens.
