COLUMBUS, Ga. | Two early goals from
Jessica Allen and
Mollie Arrendale gave the No. 16 University of North Georgia women’s soccer team all they would need to knock off Limestone in the opening round of the 2015 NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Championship, 4-0.
Allen got the scoring party started in the fifth minute heading home the first corner kick of the game off the foot of Jade Pennock. Arrendale quickly made it 2-0 in the seventh minute collecting a pass from Sophia Matonak that worked around the Limestone goalkeeper and Arrendale found the back of the open net.
Pennock gave the Nighthawks another scoring rally to start the second half. In the 49th minute, the England native took a ball from midfield and dribbled through more than five defenders and put her shot just under the crossbar to give UNG a three-goal advantage. The senior captain found the back of the net again in the 65th minute dribbling around three defenders and the goalkeeper and knocking it in on a tight angle before the ball found the byline. The goal gave North Georgia the 4-0 lead that proved final.
NOTES
– North Georgia advances to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the past five years. UNG has advanced to the Second Round in each NCAA Tournament the program has appeared in.
– UNG is now 2-0-1 all-time against Limestone.
– Mallory Sayre recorded her 10th shutout of the season and extends her UNG and Peach Belt career record to 27.
– UNG’s 10 shutouts this year are a single-season record for the team in the NCAA era.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
“It was a fast start for us tonight and that was key,” UNG head coach Chris Adams said. “It was one of the things we had focused on in preparation. (Limestone) had scored first in each of their 19 games this season. We put them under some pressure that they probably weren’t use to and forced some errors, but that’s the game of soccer. It was important to get that third goal coming out of the second half to really give ourselves some margin for error and allowed us to get our starters off the field and rested up for another match with Columbus State on Sunday.”
STAT OF THE NIGHT
13 – UNG had 13 shots on goal in tonight’s game. That equals the second best mark of the season. The Nighthawks had 13 shots on goal against Queens (NC) and 24 against Georgia Southwestern.
NEXT UP
The Nighthawks will take on host and second-seeded Columbus State on Sunday in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament; the match is set for a 1 p.m., start. The winning team will advance to the NCAA quarterfinals next Friday.
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