HICKORY, N.C. --- Elin Hansson and Evan O'Leary scored late in the first half to boost Lenoir-Rhyne University to a 3-0 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's soccer action Saturday night.
The Bears (2-0-2, 1-0-0 SAC) outshot the Pioneers (0-2-1, 0-1-0 SAC) by a 23-2 margin, with 13 of the Bears' shots ending up on goal. Tusculum keeper Grayson Patterson kept the margin to just three goals by making 10 saves, including several difficult stops late in the first half.
Hansson and O'Leary scored four minutes apart in the final five minutes of the first half to give Lenoir-Rhyne a 2-0 lead at halftime, and Skylar Noll would tack on an insurance goal with 36 seconds remaining in the match. The Bears had a 13-2 edge in corner kicks in the match and allowed just one shot on goal by the Pioneers.
Lenoir-Rhyne had three shots in the first 15 minutes, including one from Ria Acton that was saved by Patterson in the fifth minute. Patterson would be active in the opening half, making four saves in a span of 10 minutes, including two on O'Leary, to keep the match deadlocked.
The Bears would go up 1-0 in the 41st minute as a free kick from Acton was directed home by Hansson for her second goal of the season at 40:16. Just before halftime, Lenoir-Rhyne extended its lead to 2-0 as O'Leary took a high shot from long range off a feed from Anna Grace Sumner and earned her first goal of the year with 50 seconds left until half.
In the second half, Patterson made two more saves as she denied a header by Leonie Proessl in the 47th minute and a shot attempt from Emerson Talley in the 50th minute. Lenoir-Rhyne would keep up the pressure, forcing Patterson to smother a shot at the goal line following an attempt from Proessl at close range in the 54th minute. Patterson's ninth save of the night came in the 64th minute as she went to the ground to collar a shot from just inside the box by Acton.
The Pioneers had their first shot on goal in the 67th minute, as Tanna Bookhamer received a corner kick on the far side and took a shot that was knocked away by Bears keeper Kristin Oliver. Patterson registered her 10th save of the evening with a stop on Proessl with just over four minutes to go. Noll would direct in a pass from Kara Gavaghan with 36 seconds to play to set the final score.
Oliver earned the shutout victory for the Bears with one save, while Patterson's 10 saves were one shy of her career high of 11 set in a 0-0 draw with Limestone on Oct. 8 of last season.
Tusculum will host Coker on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 2 p.m. at Pioneer Field. The Cobras fell to 1-1-1 with a 1-0 loss to Mars Hill in their conference opener on Saturday.
