Ellie Barnes and Nichole Poppe each scored two goals and goalkeeper Stephanie McCoy deflected a point-blank shot in the final seconds to preserve the shutout as University of Mount Olive defeated Pfeiffer University 4-0 in Conference Carolinas women's soccer Wednesday at Amon Field. The win, UMO's first over the Falcons since 2011, extended the Trojans' unbeaten streak to four.
Mount Olive (5-3-2 overall, 4-1-2 Conference Carolinas) withstood three Pfeiffer corner kicks in the first seven minutes and McCoy smothered a close-range shot by Aaliyah Jackson in the third minute of the contest. McCoy recorded four of her five saves in the first half.
Barnes put the Trojans on the scoreboard after Pfeiffer (4-6-1, 2-3-1) turned the ball over in its own third. After capturing the loose ball, Barnes dribbled to the left side of the box, eluded a defender on her way to the center of the box, and shot past the Falcon keeper inside the right post to give Mount Olive a 1-0 lead at the 17:56 mark. The Trojans went into intermission with the one-goal lead.
After holding a narrow 8-6 shot advantage in the first half, Mount Olive outshot Pfeiffer 12-2 in the second half. Clearances by Devynn Brennan, Lauren Cowley and Christine Rocchio deep in the Trojan third helped negate Falcon shot opportunities in the second half.
Poppe extended the Trojans' lead to 2-0 at 67:52 after taking a service from Alex Wetherholt on the right side of the box and scoring in the upper 90. Poppe iced the match at the 87:43 mark when she beat the Falcon keeper and scored from a tight right-to-left angle to make it a 3-0 score. The Trojans capped the scoring with 34 seconds left as Barnes took a through ball from Poppe and dribbled inside the box to score from 10 yards out.
Pfeiffer appeared poised to spoil Mount Olive's shutout bid on its eighth corner kick of the match. Katlyn Stevens served the ball from the right corner and Tori Jackson one-touched the ball from five yards out in front of the right post. McCoy dove to her left and just got her left hand on the ball to keep it out of the goal. The Falcons had one final corner kick opportunity, but Mackenzie Reed cleared the ball out to set up a counter attack for the Trojans' final goal.
The match was Mount Olive's first at home since September 26. The Trojans went 1-0-2 in their three away matches.
"To come out tonight, on the home field, to get the shutout and the win in conference, it feels good," said Barnes. "We needed that."
Mount Olive returns to action Saturday as the Trojans play host to Southern Wesleyan University in a Conference Carolinas match-up. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Amon Field.