University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
The Citadel
UNC Asheville Falls 2-0 In Opener Of Four-Game Road Trip
08.21.2016 | Women's Soccer
THE RUNDOWN
Score: The Citadel 2 UNC Asheville 0
Teams: UNC Asheville (0-2-0)
The Citadel (1-0-0)
Charleston, S.C. - Despite 11 second-half shots for UNC Asheville, they fell 2-0 to The Citadel on the road in the opener of a four-game road trip at W.L.I. Field.
GAME AT A GLANCE
The Citadel produced two shots in the game's first two minutes, the second of which was a header saved by Asheville goalkeeper Madeline Getz.
Ellie Stone and Gabrielle Iorio each attempted a shot over the next 26 minutes, but both went wide. Then, an Asheville foul at the 29:08 mark led to a goal by The Citadel's Emilie Valenciano off a 22-yard direct free kick just over 30 minutes in.
Following that, Gretchen Dettlinger was able to produce a shot in the 38th minute, but it went wide right as Asheville trailed 1-0 at halftime.
Asheville opened with an offensive flurry to open the second frame, but were unable to produce a goal. Emma Houser and Paige Trent each put shots on frame, but they were saved by The Citadel's Logan Leask. Caroline Houser also put a corner kick in play, while Maura Coolbaugh had a shot go wide right - all in the first 4:41 of the half.
A couple minutes later, Rachel Snyder had a shot go wide left as Asheville still trailed by a goal.
In all, Asheville produced seven shots over the first 20 minutes of the half, compared to just one for The Citadel.
In the 84th minute, however, The Citadel's Katherine Arroyo received a pass from Mady Riegel and beat Getz in the right side of the net for an insurance goal.
NOTABLES
Despite their two-goal lead, The Citadel picked up two yellow cards over the game's final 2:07. They had three total in the match.
Overall, Asheville outshot The Citadel 14-12, including an 11-5 mark in the second half. The Citadel, however, held a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal and netted 40 percent of their shots on goal.
The Citadel was also able to produce nine corner kicks, compared to just two for Asheville.
QUOTABLES
"The mental component is incredibly critical to being a fighter," said Asheville head women's soccer coach Michelle Demko. "We cannot be a team of two halves. It makes the results that much more difficult to achieve. We are standing in our own way of success right now. There are games on our schedule that will continue to push us out of our comfort zone to see what our mental response is going to be. This is our biggest component that needs the most work and one that will see big benefits with small changes psychologically. Give credit to The Citadel. They never stopped working or believing in themselves and continue to work their game plan."
UP NEXT
Asheville will travel to Spartanburg, S.C. for a 7 p.m. road tilt against Wofford College on Wednesday. They will then take on Western Carolina in Cullowhee, N.C. on Friday before closing the road trip against UAB on Sept. 1 in Birmingham, Ala.
"We are on the road for our next three games," Demko said. "All three will be difficult and test us in every way to prepare us for the Big South's competitive play. We will need to dig in and be relentless for 90 minutes. There is still a lot of soccer left for us to come together and strengthen the inner workings of our program more than ever. I believe in the talent of this group. We have it in us to be very good this season. The players are disappointed and know they need to respond. It's not a time to panic, but rather a time to focus and understand we need to strengthen mentally in order to strengthen the group and our opportunities on the field."
