WINCHESTER, Va. – Visiting Christopher Newport University
clinched the 2010 USA South Conference women's soccer regular
season championship with a 1-0 win over host Shenandoah Sunday
afternoon on Sprint Field at Shentel Stadium.
The Captains (12-4-1, 8-0 USA South) will be the No. 1 seed at
next week's USA South Conference Tournament by virtue of their win
over Shenandoah (9-6-3, 4-3-1).
SU, which could have set itself up for a top three finish in the
league with a win, now will most likely be on the road a week from
Tuesday in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
The Hornets complete conference play on Friday with a contest at
winless Mary Baldwin and are currently in a group of five teams
within a game of one another in places three through seven in the
10-team league.
Of those three remaining schools (Averett, Ferrum, Greensboro
and Methodist), SU holds the tiebreaker over the Cougars and
Monarchs. Should Shenandoah finish with the same record as either
FC or GC, those two schools will take the higher seed based on
head-to-head result.
The Hornets own the tiebreaker over Averett based on
head-to-head and Methodist based on a win over second place
Meredith.
Sunday, despite getting the best two opportunities to score in
the opening 45 minutes, SU found itself on the losing end of
contest thanks to a Lauren Fleming to Sam Ciaravino goal in the
2:26 into the second half.
Possessing the ball at midfield, Fleming played a long ball to
Ciaravino approximately 30 yards from goal. Ciaravino ran onto the
ball and was able to volley her shot over the head of on-rushing
Hornets keeper Kat
Terza.
The ball took one bounce before tucking itself under the
crossbar and into the right side of the net.
From there, each team had one additional shot on net in the
remaining 42 minutes of action.
CNU outshot the Hornets 10-4 and held a 4-2 advantage in corner
kicks.
Terza had three saves for the hosts with Meghan Gumbs making
four stops for the Captains.
SU is at Wesley on Tuesday for its final non-conference game of
the year.
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