University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Throwback Thursday - 1995 Women's Soccer - Big South Champions
09.17.2015 | Women's Soccer
Recently retired Sports Information Director Mike Gore will look back at some of the top Bulldog teams and moments over the years for Throwback Thursday.
Today's first moment is a look back at the 1995 women's soccer team that captured the Big South Conference championship. That team will be honored this Saturday with a reunion at Greenwood Field when this year's Asheville women's soccer team takes on USC Upstate at 7:00 p.m.
The 1995 Bulldog women's soccer team was not taken seriously by too many people prior to the season. Asheville was a preseason pick to finish in fifth place in the Big South out of just six teams competing that year.
But insiders could tell something was building in head coach Michele Cornish's second season as head coach. The Bulldogs had improved vastly in 1994 - earning seven wins, including impressive league wins over UMBC and Towson State. Asheville's women's program was just four years old after being reinstated in the 1992 season.
A solid nucleus was returning with veteran goalkeeper Jill Young, forward Kristy Cumming, midfielders Lynae King and Mary Milligan and defenders Chesa Cofini and Jodi Winterson. And a talented recruiting class was joining the Blue and White, as well. Mackenzie Miller, a talented freshman striker from Colorado, was turning heads right away in preseason drills. Sophomore midfielder Alison Gehringer transferred into the Asheville program from Barry College in Georgia and fit right in with the Bulldogs. Freshman defender Katrin Casey came from Florida and made an impact in the back from Day One of practice.
The Bulldogs served notice in the first weekend of the season they would be a team to be reckoned with in 1995. Asheville opened the season with two home games on a Saturday and Sunday, beginning the year with a 5-0 blanking of UNC Wilmington. King set a school record with four goals as Asheville dominated the Seahawks from start to finish. The next day was a showdown with Southern Conference power Davidson. The Wildcats had easily beaten the Bulldogs a year earlier 4-0 and expected more of the same on a Sunday afternoon in the mountains.
The Bulldogs downed Davidson, 2-1 as Miller scored the first of her record-setting 13 career goals. Young stopped a Davidson PK late in the match to preserve the win.
Asheville took care of another SoCon opponent a few days later with a 5-0 whipping of Furman. Cummings would set a then-NCAA record with a goal five seconds into the match.
The Bulldogs would suffer their first loss with a close 2-0 defeat at nationally-ranked Wake Forest. The Deacons scored two late goals against a steady Asheville club.
Asheville followed with four more wins to build its record to 7-1 when it faced an early-season showdown with Big South favorite and kingpin UNC Greensboro. The Lady Spartans were nationally ranked and expected to waltz through the Big South en route to an NCAA Tournament berth (there were no automatic bids for the league in 1995).
The game at Greenwood Field would go to the Spartans, 3-2, but the blowout that UNCG expected never materialized. While Asheville was disappointed with the loss, it had gained confidence playing the Spartans and looked forward to playing them again.
The Bulldogs would embark on another winning streak as they knocked off Radford (2-0) and UMBC (2-1) on the road to claim second place in the conference. Asheville would also stun Louisville in a non-conference battle 3-0.
Asheville would finish the regular season with a 14-5 record. Michele Cornish was named Big South Conference Coach of the Year, while her husband Steve also earned the honor on the men's side the same day.
The Big South Tournament was held at UNCG's soccer stadium with the Spartans expecting nothing more than a coronation for their program and expected at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Asheville would battle UMBC in the semifinals an, after a scoreless first half, the Bulldogs seized control in the second half and record a 3-0 victory. Gehringer had two goals in the uprising and Asheville's talented defense would not let the Retrievers come anywhere near the Bulldog goal.
That set up a showdown with UNCG in the championship match on cold Sunday afternoon. Young was magnificent early stopping an early barrage of Spartan shows. UNCG controlled the first half but could not score. In the second half, the Bulldogs played better and a little more relaxed. They began creating their own chances.
In a moment that no Asheville soccer fan will ever forget, the Bulldogs scored the first goal of the game. Miller made a great move toward the UNCG goal. Her shot was knocked away by the Spartan goalkeeper but freshman Ashley Hart was right there. She tucked the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 Asheville lead.
The Bulldog defense and Young would make it stand. Asheville stopped the Spartan offense at every opportunity and won its first ever Big South Conference championship with the upset win.
Asheville would finish the season with a 16-5 overall record and a #10 ranking in the South region. The 16 wins is a school record to this day.
How good was this team? Three of its members – Jill Young, Alison Gehringer, Mackenzie Miller – are in the UNC Asheville Athletics Hall of Fame with Young also in the Big South Hall of Fame.
Michele Cornish's championship team would kick-start a great era of Bulldog soccer. They would advance to two more title games over the next three years, losing on PK's to UNCG the next year and falling 1-0 to Radford in the 1998 title game.
