GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Gabrielle Whitt knocked
home the match-winning goal in the 38 minute to lead the Tusculum
College women's soccer team to a 1-0 South Atlantic Conference win
over visiting Queens University of Charlotte Wednesday at Pioneer
Field.
Tusculum (3-1-1, 1-0-0 SAC), ranked fifth in the NSCAA Division II
Southeast Region, has logged 340 consecutive minutes, including its
third straight shutout.
TC senior goalkeeper Marissa Williams accounted for her second clean-sheet of 2014 and the 27th shutout of her collegiate career. Williams finished the match with a pair of saves for the Pioneers.
Tusculum won every statistical battle including shots (21-8), shots on goal (6-2) and corner kicks (7-3).
Whitt's goal came at the 37:08 mark of the match when she took a pass from junior Taylor Lewis at the top of the box and blasted a shot to the upper quarter of the far post to give TC a 1-0 lead.
The Royals (1-5-0, 0-1-0 SAC) had their best scoring chance in the 54th minute when junior Mary Stringini shot from eight yards out to the far post but Williams cut her angle down as her shot sailed just wide.
Tusculum continued to mount the pressure and got off a flurry of shots in the 80th minute. Junior Courtney Hackney shot from 25 yards out as the ball clanged off the cross bar. Sophomore Shannele Sunderland gathered in the rebound from just inside the box, but sailed her attempt high.
The Royals put together one more flurry in the final minute and worked a corner kick in the final seconds, but the cross was knocked out of the box as Tusculum held on for the victory in its 2014 league lid-lifter.
Sunderland finished the match with a match-high five shots, including two on frame. Whitt and teammate Jordan Newby each tallied three shots in the Pioneers' home-opener.
Queens' net-minder Tori Danchak went the distance for the visitors while tallying five saves in the loss.
Tusculum returns to action this Saturday morning when the Pioneers host cross-mountain rival Mars Hill University for a rare 10:30 a.m. SAC contest at Pioneer Field. It will be the opener of a women's and men's SAC doubleheader.
- TC -
