Oct. 19, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University soccer team earned a 4-0 win against The Citadel Bulldogs on Sunday in a Southern Conference matchup held at Bulldog Field. The triumph was Samford's largest margin of victory this season.

"I thought that our players were very workmanlike and focused for this game," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "We were able to get off to a good start and things just kept rolling from there."

With the win, Samford (6-8-2, 5-1-2 SoCon) extended its undefeated streak at home to 13-consecutive games. The Bulldogs own a 4-0-1 record at Bulldog Field this season and have not been defeated at home since Sept. 21, 2007.

Samford's Paige Lanter, Amber Cress, Tori Delmonico and Shannon Healy all scored goals in the victory. Defensively, the Bulldogs' Alyssa Whitehead and Jenna Sturgill combined to record the team's eighth shutout of the season and fifth-consecutive. Samford has not allowed a goal since Oct. 3 against Davidson.

The Bulldogs' Whitehead started the game in goal and played the entire first half. Samford's 6-foot-3 freshman from Hattiesburg, Miss., earned two saves in the opening 45 minutes of play, while Sturgill played the second half and also finished with a pair of saves.

Whitehead improved her record in goal to 3-2-1 this season and extended her scoreless streak to 445:53-straight minutes. She has not allowed a goal since Sept. 19 against Auburn.

"I think that we're playing some of our best soccer of the season right now," said Yelton. "We're playing with a great deal of confidence and we just need to make sure that we can keep that mentality as we close out our schedule."

Sunday's defeat extended The Citadel's (3-11-1, 1-7 SoCon) losing streak to three-straight games. Since beating Georgia Southern on Oct. 10, 2-1, The Citadel has suffered consecutive shutout losses to Davidson 7-0, Chattanooga 2-0 and Samford 4-0.

The Citadel's offensive attack was paced by sophomore Jessa Scott. The Bulldogs' midfielder from Appleton, Wis., finished the game with five of the team's eight shot attempts. Four of The Citadel's eight shots were on-goal, while two of Scott's attempts were on target.

"I have tremendous respect for (The Citadel head coach) Bob Winch," Yelton said. "I think he's one of the finest coaches in the country and he's doing a fantastic job at The Citadel. His players fought the full 90 minutes today and he's coached in so many NCAA Tournament's for a reason, and that's because he's a really good coach."

Samford scored its quickest goal of the season Sunday as Lanter gave the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead during the third minute of play.

At exactly 2:23 into the match, Lanter one-timed a crossing pass from Leah Leppert and sent a shot past the goalkeeper into the left-hand corner of the net. Lanter received Leppert's precise pass on the right flank of the goal and fired the shot from approximately six yards out. The score was Lanter's first of the season.

"It was great to get the early goal and I think that really jumpstarted our team today," said Yelton. "Leah hit a great ball across the field and Paige ran onto it and made an outstanding play."

Samford extended its lead to 3-0 by halftime as both Cress and Delmonico tacked on late first-half goals.

Cress scored during the 34th minute of play for her team-leading fourth goal of the season, while Delmonico tallied her first goal of the year at 41:43. Senior Kat Sweatt earned an assist on Cress's score and freshman Brittany Gordon notched an assist on Delmonico's goal.

Gordon was later credited with her second assist of the game as she helped on Healy's goal during the 89th minute.

With only 1:33 remaining in Sunday's match, Valerie Kikkert and Gordon each one-timed passes through a circle of The Citadel defenders to set Healy up for her second goal of the season.

Samford's 4-0 win was its largest margin of victory since Nov. 3, 2007, when the Bulldogs picked up a similar 4-0 triumph at home against Belmont.

"We were able to get a lot of minutes for some of our backup players today and they played great," Yelton said. "When they came in, they were able to sustain a high level and it felt good to be able to reward them for all of their hard work."

The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs travel to Boone, N.C., for another critical SoCon matchup against the Appalachian State Mountaineers at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.