Women's Soccer Closes Out Regular Season This Week More Information:
This Week in Coastal Women’s Soccer
Coastal Carolina (11-5-1, 5-1) at USC Upstate (3-13) Date: Wednesday, Oct. 31 Time: 6 p.m. Place: County University Soccer Stadium, Spartanburg, S.C. Series: Series tied at 1-1 Live Stats: www.UpstateSpartans.com Live Video: www.ASunTV.com
Coastal Carolina vs. Radford (9-6, 3-2) Date: Saturday, Nov. 3 Time: 2 p.m. Place: CCU Soccer Field, Conway, S.C. Series: Coastal leads 5-2-2 Live Stats: The Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer team (11-5-1, 5-1 Big South) ends the regular season with two games this week, including its final game in Big South play. Coastal travels to Spartanburg, S.C., to face USC Upstate (3-13) Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. The Lady Chanticleers will then look to keep a hold on first place in the conference as they face Radford (9-6, 3-2 Big South) Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. It is Senior Day at the CCU Soccer Field as Coastal will honor seniors
Amanda Gelsomino (Johnston, R.I./Johnston (University of New England)),
Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)),
Emma Humphries (Wellington, New Zealand/Samuel Marsden College (Cal State Fullerton)) and
Jill Karelitz (Columbia, S.C./Dutch Fork) at halftime.
SCOUTING USC UPSTATE: The Spartans fell to Stetson 4-0 and Florida Gulf Coast 1-0 this past weekend.
Catherine Nolff is tied for second on the team with seven points (two goals and three assists) while
Samantha Spradley has 93 saves in 12 games.
SERIES VS. USC UPSTATE: The series is tied at a game apiece, but the two teams have not played since the 2001 season. Coastal beat Upstate (then USC Spartanburg) 1-0 in 2000, the year the Lady Chants started the program. Coastal fell 3-1 in 2001.
SCOUTING RADFORD: The Highlanders are coming off a 4-2 win over Charleston Southern this past Saturday.
Brianna Kipper, named Big South Co-Player of the Week, had two goals and assisted on the game-winning goal in the win over the Lady Bucs. Kipper leads the Big South with 13 goals and 35 points. Radford plays Winthrop on Wednesday before facing the Lady Chants.
SERIES VS. RADFORD: Coastal has a 5-2-2 series advantage on Radford, including winning both meetings the teams had last year. Coastal won 2-1 Oct. 14 at Radford.
Simone Borucinski’s goal with five-and-a-half minutes left was the difference. Coastal then defeated Radford 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament.
Ashleigh Gunning had two goals in that win.
GOAL LEADERS FACE OFF ON SATURDAY: Saturday’s matchup between Coastal and Radford will have the top two scorers in the Big South. Coastal’s
Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) and Radford’s Brianna Kipper are in the top two in goals, assists and points. Kipper has 13 goals and 35 points, while Gunning has 12 goals and 33 points. Both players have nine assists and are tied for the League lead.
WIN IN LYNCHBURG A PROGRAM FIRST: Coastal won in Liberty for the first time in program history Oct. 27. Senior
Emma Humphries’ (Wellington, New Zealand/Samuel Marsden College (Cal State Fullerton)) goal in the second half was the difference. Coastal was 0-3 at Liberty before this season.
WIN STREAK FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: Coastal’s 2-0 win over Winthrop gave the Lady Chanticleers their seventh straight win. That broke the previous school record of five, which was set in both the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
DEFENSE HELPED COASTAL TO WIN STREAK: The Coastal Carolina defense has five shutouts during the seven game winning streak. The back line of junior
Chelsea Terry (Charleston, S.C./James Island), sophomore
Corie Coles (Pilesgrove, N.J./Woodstown (Lynchburg College)) and sophomore
Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) and the goalkeeping of freshman
Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) kept Winthrop off the scoreboard in a 2-0 win. The Lady Chants sport a 1.28 goals-against average and seven shutouts on the season.
GELSOMINO NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior
Amanda Gelsomino (Johnston, R.I./Johnston (University of New England)) has been selected as the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Women’s Soccer Player of the Week for games played Oct. 1-7, it was announced today by the League office.
Gelsomino contributed in two scores and two wins for the Chanticleers last week to extend their winning streak to five games, and totaled three points with an assist and a goal. In Coastal’s first win of the week, Gelsomino found Presbyterian’s net in the 79th minute to break a scoreless tie, and earn a win for the Chanticleers. Her successful week continued as she added an assist on the game-winning goal at 69:30 against UNC Asheville to give CCU the 2-0 win. Gelsomino now has three goals and two assists on the season.
MONROE NETS HAT TRICK: Junior
Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) had her third career hat trick in Coastal’s 6-1 win over High Point Oct. 8. She scored the game’s first two goals, including the game winner, and added a goal in the second half. Monroe leads the Big South with six game-winning goals. She had hat tricks against Chattanooga Sept. 4, 2005 and Longwood Sept. 29, 2005.
HELLBERG CONNECTS FOR FIRST CAREER GOAL: Sophomore
Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) scored her first career goal, which was a game winner, in a 2-0 victory over UNC Asheville Oct. 6. Hellberg took a pass from senior
Amanda Gelsomino (Johnston, R.I./Johnston (University of New England)) and ripped a shot by UNCA’s Veronica Lazar. Hellberg now has three points on the season.
COASTAL IN NCAA RANKINGS: Senior
Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) is in the top-25 in the country in goals, assists and points per game thru games of Oct. 15, 2007. Gunning is 13th in points per game (1.94), 20th in goals per game (0.6) and 24th in assists per game (0.53). Junior
Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) is 85th in goals per game (0.529), while freshman
Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) is 100th in goals-against average (0.957). Coastal is in the top-100 in scoring offense (68th, 1.82), winning percentage (57th, .676) and shutout percentage (96th, 0.412).
MONROE NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Coastal Carolina junior
Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) has been selected as the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Women’s Soccer Player of the Week for games played Sept. 24-30, it was announced today by the League office.
Monroe posted three game-winning goals and tallied six points in three road wins last week, including two back-to-back games. In Coastal’s first win of the week, Monroe scored at 27:41 to ensure the Chanticleers a 2-0 win over the College of Charleston. In Coastal’s Big South opener against VMI, Monroe rifled a 20-yard shot to score in the second minute of the game, as the Lady Chants picked up another 2-0 victory. The following day, Monroe beat Longwood’s goalie with just over 10 minutes left in the game to lead CCU to the 2-1 win. She now has 30 goals in her career at CCU.
GUNNING NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior
Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) was named the Big South Conference Women’s Soccer Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 16.
Gunning had a memorable week, taking part in six of Coastal’s eight goals. For the week she tallied four goals and two assists for 10 points to lead the Chanticleers to three wins. In Coastal’s first victory and shutout of the season, Gunning contributed an assist on the game-winning goal, as CCU defeated The Citadel, 3-0. In Coastal’s second game of the week against Wagner, she became the first Chanticleer to record a hat trick since Bobbie Parsons on Oct. 16, 2005, as the Lady Chants came from behind to top Wagner, 3-2. Her first goal came in the second half at 55:36 to tie the score at 1-1. Exactly one minute after the Seahawks scored to retake the lead, Gunning found the back of the net to knot the game at 2-2, and finished off her performance by scoring a goal at 79:29 to close out the game with a victory.
In Coastal Carolina’s final contest of the week, Gunning scored the first goal of the game against North Florida at 16:38, and assisted on Coastal’s second goal to lead CCU to the 2-1 win.
MONROE NOW SECOND TO ONE: Junior
Blair Monroe’s (North Myrtle Beach, S.C./Little River) first goal of the season Sept. 12 in a 3-0 win over The Citadel moved her into second place on Coastal’s all-time points list. She passed Kristina Fisher and now has 76 points in her CCU career. Bobbie Parsons leads Coastal with 95 career points. Monroe also is second at Coastal in shots (169) and goals (34).
COASTAL PICKED THIRD IN BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL: The Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer team has been picked to finish third in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll as voted by the League’s Head Women’s Soccer Coaches and Sports Information Directors, the conference announced today (Aug. 13). In addition, redshirt junior
Emily McColl (Wellington, New Zealand/Hutt Valley) finished runner-up in the voting for the Big South Preseason Player of the Year.
Coastal received 98 points, including three first-place votes, to finish third in the balloting. Liberty was picked to win the conference, garnering 109 points and five first-place votes. Winthrop earned the second spot by one point, getting 99 points and a League-high six first-place votes. Coastal was followed by UNC Asheville (90 points, one first-place vote), High Point (59 points), Radford (57 points), Charleston Southern (45 points, one first-place vote) and VMI (19 points). McColl received three first-place votes and eight overall points to finish second in the Preseason Player of the Year voting. Winthrop’s Dimitra Poulos, the 2006 Big South Player of the Year, was named the Preseason Player of the Year with 11 first-place votes and 25 points.
UP NEXT: Coastal will participate in the 2007 Big South Women’s Soccer Tournament Nov. 8-11 at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, S.C.
