Photo by: Mark Houser
By Jared McMurry
With less than 90 seconds into the contest, Shelby Hooe found the back of the net giving Gardner-Webb’s women’s soccer team (5-7-2, 2-2-2) a 1-0 lead. Another goal midway through the second half lead the Runnin’ Bulldogs on their way to a 2-0 victory over the Radford Highlanders.
“Sometimes an early goal will wake the other team up a little bit, but you will always take them,” said Runnin’ Bulldog Coach Mike Varga.
After the early goal, the Highlanders were able to pose a threat offensively for the remainder of the first half and most of the second half. Radford was able to get five shots on goal in the first half, but the Gardner-Webb defense was able to really tighten up, especially around the goal.
In the second half the Highlanders continued to control the ball on the Bulldog side of the field. It looked as if the Highlanders would find a decent enough shot to get on the scoreboard. However Runnin’ Bulldogs goalkeeper Chauvin was able to turn in a stellar performance with six saves all night and several key plays in the second half.
Hooe continued to have an impressive offensive night for the Runnin’ Bulldogs in the second half as she had a total of five shots, including three shots on goal. Instead of Hooe picking up the second goal though, it was Haley Ahrenholtz off the bench that gave her team the 2-0 lead.
Ahrenholtz had only been in the game for a few seconds when Brandi Arey deflected a ball off a defender towards her. She then quickly struck the ball past the Highlander goalkeeper and into the net. The Runnin’ Bulldogs second goal coming in the 64th minute all but put the game away.
“Haley was able to come off the bench and give us a spark,” Coach Varga said. “It really deflates a team when you score that late in a game.
The Bulldogs improve their record to 5-7-2, and 2-2-2 in Big South Conference play, and will return to action when they host Liberty on Saturday afternoon.