Soccer Finishes Regular Season Undefeated at Home

Freshman Bree Mason hits the ball off of the side of her foot. PN Photo/Trevon Knight

The women’s soccer team ended their regular season on a rainy, muddy afternoon with a victory over Young Harris College, 3-1, on Oct. 26 to finish 8-0 at home and 10-5-1 overall for the 2018 season.

The team has played its best all throughout the year at Lumbee River EMC Stadium and the trend continued with an especially dominant first half in this game.

The Braves limited the Mountain Lions to just one shot in the entire first half and scored two goals of their own to put the match out of reach early.

Stacey Scott fed a cross kick that was deflected to Bree Mason for a goal to open the scoring five minutes into the game, and Christine Rolfes added a score on a penalty kick for the 2-0 lead.

Scott would assist on another of Rolfes’ goal in the second half to tack on insurance for UNCP.

The field conditions were slick and muddy due to on-and-off rain during the match. The rain held off for most of the key parts of the match but began pouring down hard later.

The home team mostly played ball control in the second half, trying to protect the 3-0 lead.

In the eightieth minute with the outcome already decided, Lucero Robayo of Young Harris knocked in a goal that bounced off the slick crossbar behind UNCP goalkeeper Gina Ryan.

The goal moved the final score to 3-1 and ended a season-long shutout streak that lasted over 919 on-field minutes for Ryan and the Braves.

With the win, women’s soccer looks ahead to the postseason and the first-round Peach Belt Conference Tournament matchup with the North Georgia Nighthawks.

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