University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
VMI
Big South Champs!!! - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site
01.01.1970 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 30, 2004
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Ashleigh Carter scored twice and added an assist to lead UNC Asheville to a 4-0 win over VMI as the Bulldogs claimed their first ever Big South Conference regular-season title with the victory.
The win improved UNCA's overall record to 10-5-2 on the season as the Bulldogs finished with a 6-0-2 league record. Asheville finished in first place with 20 points, one point better than second-place Birmingham-Southern (6-1-1). UNCA will be the top seed in next week's Big South Conference Tournament at Charleston, S.C. The tournament will start on Thursday, Nov. 4 and finish up with the title game on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Blackbaud Stadium.
"I'm really proud of this team for what they've accomplished this season," commented Asheville coach Michele Cornish. "We've had a lot of injuries this year but each game it's been somebody else stepping up and helping us to win."
Carter assisted on the Bulldogs first goal of the game and then scored both of her goals in the second half to seal UNCA's third straight victory. Senior goalkeeper Rebecca Bostian picked up her second shutout of the season by stopping two shots. It was the Bulldogs ninth shutout of the year. UNCA finished the regular season by going 9-1-2 over its last 12 matches. The only loss suffered by the Bulldogs during that stretch was a 7-0 loss at national power Clemson on Oct. 12.
Asheville opened the scoring early in the match as senior Olivia Korman took a feed from Hilary McKay and scored at the 11:38 mark.
McKay scored late in the first half, taking a pass from Erin Trigonoplos and firing it into the goal at the 37:02 mark. It was McKay's sixth goal of the year and 36th career goal tying her for second on the school's all-time career scoring list with Kelsey Dawson and Kristi Cummings.
Carter tallied her first two goals of the season in the second half. She scored on a 20-yard blast at the 67:45 mark. Korman was credited with an assist. The sophomore midfielder scored again at the 86:04 mark off a pass from freshman Shoshana Fried.
The Bulldogs controlled the match from start to finish as they outshot VMI, 20-5. UNCA had a season-high 14 corner kicks to none for the Keydets.
"We did what we needed to do today," stated Cornish. "I was glad we were able to get a goal early in the match to settle down and play soccer."
Cornish is looking forward to the Big South Conference Tournament. The Bulldogs have advanced to the championship game the past two years before falling in each match. "
"We hope this is the year we're able to win the tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament," Cornish said. "However, our league is balanced from top to bottom that every game will be very tough. We're simply going to take one match at a time and see what we can accomplish."
