Oct. 10, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University soccer team's Sarah Wilkinson scored the game-winning goal Sunday in the eighth minute of overtime to give the Bulldogs a thrilling 3-2 Southern Conference victory against the Furman Paladins. Samford's Leah Leppert and Trine Taule also tallied goals in the critical SoCon matchup.

"This was a great win for us," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "I hate that we gave up that goal there in the end of regulation, but I'm obviously very proud of our players in how they showed great character on a Sunday in October when it's 90 degrees. It took great effort for them to come back and get the game-winner so that we can keep this positive momentum going."

With the victory, Samford (8-5-1, 4-2 SoCon) extended its winning streak to four-consecutive matches. Since dropping a hard-fought 1-0 decision to No. 21-ranked UNC Greensboro on Sept. 26, the Bulldogs have rattled off consecutive SoCon victories against College of Charleston 2-0, The Citadel 7-0, Wofford 1-0 and Furman (8-4-2, 3-1-2 SoCon) 3-2 in overtime.

Heading into Sunday's contest, Furman was the second-place team in the conference and had not been defeated since a 1-0 loss at South Carolina on Sept. 12. The Paladins' loss to Furman snapped their six-match undefeated streak.

"After we started off the first weekend so poorly with those two losses, our players have really been focused and very determined," Yelton said. "Furman was a very difficult and challenging test for us. I think Andrew (Burr) is one of the best coaches in the league and he always does a great job with his crew against us. Also, Martha Hall and Rachel Shellnut are a handful to deal with."

With less than four minutes remaining in regulation and Samford leading 2-1, Furman's Rachel Shelnutt connected on a header off a corner kick to even the match at 2-2. The goal, which was tallied in the 87th minute of play, proved to be Shelnutt's eighth of the season. The Paladin's Martha Hall was awarded an assist on the score.

Hall, Furman's all-conference forward from Knoxville, Tenn., tallied the first goal of the match Sunday to give the Paladins an early 1-0 advantage in the 15th minute. The score was Hall's SoCon-leading ninth of the season and was assisted by Dee Makris and Laura White.

Despite falling behind early, Samford bounced right back and evened the score at 1-1 with a goal from Leppert at 33:44. On the score, which was Leppert's third of the season, the Bulldogs' senior from Germantown, Tenn., fired a line-drive shot from the left flank that was nicked by a Furman defender and found the corner of the net. Leppert's goal was from approximately 30 yards out.

At halftime, Samford and Furman were all square at 1-1. The Bulldogs outshot the Paladins 7-4 in the first period, while Furman's goalkeeper Jessica Smith pulled down four saves in the opening 45 minutes of play.

Samford scored its second goal of the match nearly 17 minutes into the final half. At 56:50, the Bulldogs' Taule slammed home a crossing pass from freshman Katie Proud on the right baseline to give Samford a 2-1 lead. On the scoring play, Proud outran a pair of Furman defenders down the right sideline and turned the corner near the baseline to fire the crossing pass.

During Proud's run, Taule timed her move perfectly and found a soft spot in Furman's defense near the right post. Proud passed the ball directly to Taule's feet and the Bulldogs' true freshman from Frekhaug, Norway, blasted home the shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

"If you just look at us as a group, we've had different players at different times of the year step up for us and provide that scoring spark," said Yelton. "We have lost some of our attacking options due to injury and Trine and Sarah have absolutely accepted that challenge and have both scored some big goals for us."

Down the stretch in the second half of play, Samford looked as if it was going to roll to a 2-1 victory until Furman's Shelnutt tallied the equalizing goal with just 3:32 left in regulation.

The Bulldogs led the Paladins in shots 16-9 at the end of the first 90 minutes of play, while Samford was whistled for seven fouls, as compared to zero for Furman in regulation.

In overtime, the Bulldogs completely dominated the run of play and rattled off four quick shots, including Wilkinson's game-winning goal.

On Wilkinson's decisive score, which occurred at exactly 97:49, Hilary Samuels gathered an errant Furman pass and drove down the right side of the field. She then fired a crossing shot in front of the goal and Wilkinson headed it into the bottom right corner of the net from seven yards out. The score was Wilkinson's fourth of the season, while Samuels' assist was her team-leading fifth of the 2010 campaign.

"Hilary has been playing in a new position and we've moved her more wide for us," Yelton said. "She has done a great job and has gotten us goals just from flat out determination. She's run down a lot of balls that other people would have quit on and she's been hitting great service. Today, she put Sarah in a great position and it ended up being the game-winner."

The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Friday at 7 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs play host to the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Senior Night.

Samford will be wearing special pink jerseys to bring awareness to Breast Cancer Prevention on Friday. The Bulldogs' pink Samford soccer jerseys will also be auctioned through a silent auction during the match. All proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.