Regionally ranked Abbey women's soccer edges SAPC

October 27, 2007

Boxscore

BELMONT, N.C.—The St. Andrews Presbyterian College defense and junior goalkeeper Garrison Burton (Atlanta, Ga.) held the top team in Conference Carolinas without a goal for 85 minutes on the road, but the host Belmont Abbey College women’s soccer team prevailed 1-0 on Saturday afternoon.

Belmont Abbey senior midfielder Diane Stainback scored the only goal of the match in the 85th minute as the Abbey closed out the regular season with the slim one-goal victory.

The No. 9 NCAA Southeast Region ranked Crusaders, winners of 10 in a row, posted its ninth straight shutout as it improves to 16-4-0 overall and caps off a perfect Conference Carolinas season with an 11-0-0 record. The Knights, who concluded the regular season with a 7-8-4 overall ledger and a NCAA Division II era best 4-4-3 mark in conference play, did a great job containing the potent Abbey offense that has outscored its conference opponents 31-1.

The Abbey, which controlled the entire match, out shot St. Andrews 17-1 but could not find the back of the net until the 84:40 mark. After a failed clearance by the Knights, Stainback gathered a loose ball deep in the St. Andrews zone and powered a shot from 25-yards out that tucked into the top left corner of the net for her first goal of the year.

From there, the Abbey defense made the lead stand up as it registered its ninth-consecutive shutout.

The Crusaders dominated the final statistics, as it held a 6-0 advantage in corner kicks in addition to the 17-1 shot margin. Neither Anna Donaldson, who started the game in goal, nor Anna Wells had to make a save.

Burton registered a game-high nine saves for the visitors.

St. Andrews will compete in the conference tournament for only the second time in the programs D-II era, with its best ever seeding of No. 7 ( St. Andrews was the No. 8 seed in 2003). The Lady Knights will visit No. 2 seed Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, N.C. on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. in the first round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament. The Falcons defeated a depleted SAPC squad 4-2 on September 13 in Misenheimer.

NOTE: Release partially by the Belmont Abbey Sports Information Office