MORROW, Ga. – Clayton State's Olaitan
Yusuf struck for her team-leading ninth and 10th goals of the
season behind goalkeeper Lindsay Schmidt's first shutout of
the season as the Lakers kept UNCP winless in Peach Belt Conference
play with a 3-0 win over the Lady Braves Saturday afternoon at
Laker Field.
UNCP (6-3-1, 0-3-1 PBC) got four shots apiece from both Ashley
McManus and Jamie Clarke to provide the offensive highlights, with
netminder Whitney Beverly tallying a trio of saves in the nets.
Clayton State (5-3-1, 2-2-0) got a 26th minute goal from Yasemin
Sunbul to complete the game scoring.
Despite the loss, UNCP fell to seventh place in the conference
standings. The Lady Braves have one point to their credit this
season on the shoulders of a 1-1 tie with then-No. 11 Armstrong
Atlantic on September 19. All three PBC losses have come on the
road.
“We gave up two early goals and dug ourselves a hole that
we could not climb out of,” said UNCP head coach Lars
Andersson. “We had some chances to get off the mark in
the second half, but we just couldn't find the back of the
net. There are some things that we still need to correct in
practice, but we'll get that done this week as we prepare for
a tough homecoming contest with Lander.”
Yusuf gave CSU a 15th minute lead when she redirected Jennifer
Winslett's corner kick inside the near post. Just more than
10 minutes later, Sunbul would cushion the advantage out to a pair
of goals on a cannon shot from the left side of the penalty box.
McManus collected the Lady Braves' first shot on target in
the 30th minute, but Schmidt proved more than able when she gobbled
up the attempt to keep the visitors on the mark. The Lady Braves
would have much of the momentum in the final 15 minutes of the
opening stanza, but still went into the intermission with a 2-0
deficit.
The Lady Braves will travel to Barton (2-3-4) on Wednesday for a
7 p.m. match and will be back in action at home on October 6 when
they welcome league-leading Lander (7-1-0, 4-0-0) to Varsity
Grounds for a 4:30 p.m. Homecoming match-up. Admission to all 2007
UNCP soccer home games is free.
