BANNER ELK, N.C. – The Lady
Railsplitters (4-3) snapped a three-game losing streak and broke out of a three-game scoring slump with a 2-0 win over the
Lees-McRae Bobcats (1-4-1) on Wednesday evening in Banner Elk, N.C.
After being blanked in three consecutive games and putting up just one shot on goal against Queens on Saturday, Lincoln Memorial turned in an utterly dominant offensive performance to break out of its slump. The Lady
Railsplitters rained down a season-high 26 shots on the Bobcats with 11 shots on goal. That represents the highest shot output by LMU since recording 30 against Coker last season.
On the other end of the spectrum,
Lees-McRae mustered just eight shots and two shots on goal. Junior goalkeeper
Brooke Taylor stopped both of those attempts to help the Lady
Railsplitters post their second clean sheet of the season.
Junior defender
Courtney Boyd scored her first career goal in the 29th minute off of an assist from forward
Patricia Roach, who earned her first point at Lincoln Memorial on the play. That goal stood as the game-winning score and broke the Lady
Railsplitters' nearly 330-minute scoreless streak dating back to a win over USC Aiken on September 8.
Despite outshooting the Bobcats 12-5 in the half and landing three more shots on goal, the Lady
Railsplitters would not score again until early in the 82nd minute, when
Melissa Carpenter tallied her first goal of the season in breakaway fashion following a long pass from
Isa Jara. The senior striker beat
Lees-McRae keeper Hope Sanborn to give LMU its fourth multi-goal effort of the season.
Lincoln Memorial nearly put in another goal before time expired, but
Hanna Ratliff's shot bounced off the crossbar in the 84th minute.
Caroline Souza led the Lady
Railsplitters with six shots, while Jara and Roach had four shots apiece.
Riley Neese was the only
Lees-McRae player with multiple shot attempts, accounting for three of the team's eight shots.
Quick Hits
- With the win, the Lady
Railsplitters surpassed their win total from the entire 2016 campaign, when they finished 3-10-2.
- Lincoln Memorial picked up its first-ever win over
Lees-McRae, improving to 1-2-1 in the all-time series in the first meeting between the two programs since 2011.
- The Lady
Railsplitters are just two goals away from matching the team's scoring output from the entire 2016 campaign (12).
Up Next
The Lady
Railsplitters return to the LMU Soccer Complex and South Atlantic Conference play on Saturday when they welcome the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears to town for a 1 p.m. kickoff. Live stats and video will be available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.
Update (8:20 a.m.): The original post indicated that Jara scored the first goal of the match. After a review, that goal was credited to Boyd.
