PEMBROKE – Lefke Boysen scored a 69th
minute goal to accentuate a strong second half effort by host UNCP,
but visiting and 11th-ranked Armstrong Atlantic netted the
Equalizer just more than seven minutes later as both sides played
to a 1-1 draw in women's soccer action on Wednesday evening
at Varsity Grounds.
Boysen netted her team-leading fifth goal of the season with
senior teammate Jamie Clarke registering her team-best fourth
assist for the Lady Braves (5-1-1, 0-1-1 PBC) who snapped a
three-game series skid with the result. Alyssa Anderson scored the
lone goal for Armstrong Atlantic (4-1-1, 1-0-1) who had won four
consecutive games after dropping its season opener at Florida
Southern.
UNCP goalkeeper Whitney Beverly tallied a season high five saves
in the nets for the Lady Braves, with AASU netminder Tarra Kohler
amassing three stops.
“Without, in any way, discrediting Armstrong
Atlantic, I thought we did a good job with Kristin Burton who is
the reigning PBC Player of the Year and I thought that we had the
better of the play and the better goal scoring chances,” said
UNCP head coach Lars
Andersson. “In the end, I thought that we may have tired
a little quicker than they did but, statistically speaking, it was
as even a game as you can play.
“Against a good team, you'll take a point any way
you can get it. We would have liked three, but we'll take a
point against Armstrong Atlantic. I think the (UNCP) girls are a
little disappointed. But, now they know they can play with some of
the best teams out there. Armstrong Atlantic certainly is one of
them.”
With neither team gaining an edge for any extended period of
time in the opening half, both sides settled for a single shot on
goal with the respective goalkeepers collecting their first saves
with relative ease. At the intermission, the teams were dead even
with four shots apiece and engaged in a deadlock.
The Lady Braves came out of the break on fire, getting a quality
scoring chance with Clarke's 48th minute shot, but her far
post shot on an open net trickled just wide. Burton got her best
chance of the contest 13 minutes later, but her header shot on a
service into the box was blocked by a UNCP defender and kept the
game at a scoreless standstill.
Set up on a foul by AASU's Holly Grulich, Clarke sent a
beautiful service into the area in with just more than 21 minutes
to play and Boysen hit a no-look shot off the back of her heel to
give the Lady Braves what would turn out to be a short-lived lead.
Nearly eight minutes later, Anderson's equalizing score off a
Burton corner kick would cap the night's scoring.
UNCP will hit the road again this weekend when the squad packs
up their show and heads to Columbus State (6-3-0, 2-0-0) on
Saturday for a 1 p.m.. match-up between the league rivals. The
Cougars were a 3-0 winner on the road at Clayton State on
Wednesday.
