The Johnsonian

Issue date: 11/1/06 Section: Sports

The Winthrop women's soccer team said goodbye to its seniors in style as they defeated the Radford Highlanders 2-0.

The team picked up their sixth conference victory of the season and won the Big South regular season cham¬pionship, which gives them the top seed in the Big South Conference Tourna¬ment.

"The girls have been trying to make history for four years now and I think today they did," head coach Melissa Heinz said.

Prior to Saturday's match, the Eagles honored their seven seniors which included defender Michael Sonefeld, midfielder Tara Lumley, forward Allison Stoltz, midfielder Jennifer Hensley, midfielder Emily Anderson, defender Carolyn Quar¬les and midfielder Ashley Abood.

As for the game, the Eagles controlled most of the possession early in the match and got on the board first in the 38th minute.

Junior forward Ashley Hall¬mon controlled the ball along the end line near the far post. She crossed the ball over the head of the Radford goalkeeper to the near post where sophomore forward Erin Foote headed it into the back of the net. The goal was Foote's fifth of the season.

Each team had one more scor¬ing chance in the first half, but nei¬ther was able to capitalize and the game went into the half at 1-0.

In the second half, the Eagles put in an insurance goal early.

Freshman defender Caly Cas¬sidy played a long ball up along the far sideline, which got past the Highlander defense. Sophomore forward Chelsea White picked up the ball about 30 yards out and charged towards the goal.

White took the ball into the box with the Highlander goal¬keeper charging at her and placed it to the right of the keeper and into the near cor¬ner of the goal to put the Eagles up 2-0.

The Eagles had another chance in the 56th minute as Hensley cracked a shot from 25 yards out that pinged off the post and out.

The Radford goalkeeper kept the game close, coming up with impor¬tant saves in the second half, but her teammates could not score and the Eagles won 2-0.

"It feels incredible, surreal and a relief almost," Quarles said. "Four years culminated into one awesome win."

The Eagles will now start to prepare for the confer¬ence tourna¬ment. The tournament will be played in Conway, S.C. on the campus of Coastal Caro¬lina.

"We've been blessed with a great season," Heinz said. "This season has been a total team effort, not just by the 11 players on the field, but all 27 girls have played a role in helping us accomplish this today."

The quarterfinals will start on Thursday, Nov. 2 with the Eagles slated to play Charleston Southern at 2:30 p.m. The Eagles defeated Charleston 4-1 on the road earlier this season.

The semifinals will be on Fri¬day, Nov. 3. Should the Eagles win, they would play against the Birmingham Southern-UNC Ashe¬ville winner at 5 p.m.

The other two quarter final matches are No. 3 Liberty vs. No. 6 High Point and No. 2 Coastal Carolina against No. 7 Radford.

The championship is sched¬uled for Sunday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m.

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