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Women's Soccer Faces SoCon Opponents at the Select Kickoff Classic

       

Women's Soccer Faces SoCon Opponents at the Select Kickoff Classic

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The Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer team (0-2) heads to Greenville, S.C., for the Select Kickoff Classic, hosted by Furman University. The Chanticleers open with host Furman (0-0) Friday, August 29 at 7:30 p.m. Coastal Carolina then faces Wofford (0-1-1) Sunday, August 31 at 2:30 p.m., in its first neutral site game of the season. Coastal Carolina fell to UNC Greensboro and Duke in its opening weekend of action.   SCOUTING FURMAN: The Paladins will open the 2008 season with the Select Kickoff Classic. Furman won the Southern Conference Tournament last season, defeating UNC Greensboro 3-1 in the final. Furman then fell to Tennessee 2-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Paladins bring back six starters from last year’s squad, including Rachel Fry, who had 12 goals and 31 points in 2007.   SERIES VS. FURMAN: Furman has won all three games in the all-time series. The two teams last met on September 15, 2002, as the Chanticleers fell 4-2. Kristin Wisse and Kristina Fisher scored goals for Coastal Carolina in the loss.   SCOUTING WOFFORD: The Terriers opened the 2008 season with two games this past weekend. Wofford fell to North Carolina State 1-0 in overtime on Friday and tied with High Point 1-1 on Sunday. Monica Ploetzke scored the goal in the 58th minute for the Terriers. Katie McChesney had 18 saves in the two games in goal.   SERIES VS. WOFFORD: This series is tied at 4-4-1 with the last three games going into overtime. Wofford won last year’s meeting 3-2 in overtime on a Monica Ploetzke goal in the 93rd minute. Senior Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) scored both goals for Coastal Carolina in the loss.   CHANTICLEERS SCORE EARLY IN 2008: Coastal Carolina scored five minutes into the 2008 season in the 3-2 double-overtime loss to UNC Greensboro Aug. 22. It came on an own goal at the five-minute. It was the second fastest goal to start a season in Coastal Carolina history. In 2006, Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) scored 4:23 into the season opener in a 5-1 win over West Georgia.   NILES LIKES SEASON OPENERS: Sophomore Sara Niles (Elgin, Ill./Elgin) assisted on senior Heather Haupt’s (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) goal in the 3-2 loss to UNC Greensboro Aug. 22. Niles assisted on a goal in the season opener for the second straight season. She had an assist in the 3-2 loss to Wofford Sept. 3, 2007.   NEWCOMERS SEE TIME ON THE WEEKEND: A total of eight newcomers saw playing time in the August 24th game at Duke. Freshman Sam Schuller (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) had a shot attempt, while redshirt freshman Honour Trosper (Salisbury, N.C./West Rowan (South Carolina)) saw time in goal. Junior Sarah McPartlan (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge (Loyola Ill.)) started both games at forward for the Chanticleers.   HAUPT CONNECTS ON HER SEVENTH CAREER GOAL: Senior Heather Haupt (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) scored her seventh career goal, a 15-yard shot that went in the left corner, in Coastal Carolina’s 3-2 loss to UNC Greensboro. Haupt had a goal last season in the win over The Citadel and had four goals in 2006.    FROM LATE TO EARLY: A year after the latest start to a season by a Chanticleer women’s soccer team, Coastal Carolina has its earliest start this season. The August 22nd opener beats the August 25th lidlifter in 2006. In fact, Coastal Carolina will play four games this season before the Chanticleers opened the campaign last season (Sept. 3). Coastal Carolina is 5-5-1 all-time in the month of August.   2007 REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS: Coastal Carolina earned an outright Big South regular season championship for the first time in school history when the Lady Chants defeated Radford 1-0 Nov. 3, 2007. Coastal shared a conference crown with Liberty in 2003. In the win over the Highlanders, senior Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet) scored the game-winning goal in the 15th minute, while freshman Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) stopped three shots for her sixth shutout of the season.   McCOLL RETURNS FROM OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Redshirt senior Emily McColl (Wellington, New Zealand/Hutt Valley) returns to Coastal Carolina after playing for Team New Zealand in the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. The Kiwis tied Japan 2-2, but fell to Norway 1-0 and the United States 4-0. McColl played in the tie against Japan. McColl also played in the 2007 Women’s World Cup in China.     TOUGH BEGINNING STRETCH FOR OPENERS: Coastal Carolina’s first three games are against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. UNC Greensboro defeated Memphis in the opening game of the tournament, but fell to North Carolina in the second round. Duke reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament, defeating South Carolina, Georgia and Indiana before falling to Notre Dame. Furman won the Southern Conference Tournament before falling to Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA’s.   COASTAL CAROLINA PICKED AS BIG SOUTH PRESEASON FAVORITES: Coastal Carolina University’s women’s soccer team has been chosen first in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll, as voted by the League’s Head Women’s Soccer Coaches.         Coastal Carolina, which captured the 2007 regular-season title, received three first-place votes and 90 points out of a possible 100 to win the Conference’s women’s soccer championship in 2008. The Lady Chanticleers have finished first or second in the regular-season standings in head coach Rohan Naraine’s two years at the helm. Coastal Carolina finished ahead of 2007 Tournament champion High Point, which collected three first-place votes and 83 points. Liberty finished third in the voting with 75 points and received one first-place vote, while Charleston Southern was fourth in the poll with 73 points and three first-place votes. Radford totaled 56 points for the fifth spot, just ahead of Winthrop (52 points) and new Big South member Gardner-Webb (50 points). UNC Asheville was eighth in the poll with 32 points, while new Big South member Presbyterian was ninth in the voting with 22 points. VMI finished in the 10th and final position with 17 points.   GUNNING NAMED BIG SOUTH PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Redshirt senior Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) has been chosen as the Big South’s Preseason Player of the Year, the conference office announced August 14.         Gunning, the 2007 Big South Women’s Soccer Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference selection, garnered five first-place votes and 19 points in the preseason voting. Last season, she helped the Chanticleers to their first regular-season title since 2003 and second overall. An All-Tournament Team selection in 2007, she led the team and the Big South with 15 goals and 39 points and tied for the Conference lead with nine assists. She was ninth in the country in points per game (1.86) and 18th in goals per contest (.714). Gunning was named Third-Team All-Region by Soccerbuzz.com and was an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America Second-Team honoree in 2007.   CHANTICLEERS RETURN FIVE ALL-BIG SOUTH SELECTIONS: Coastal Carolina returns five players that were selected to the All-Big South First and Second Teams in 2007, including all three First Team honorees. Seniors Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)), Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) and Chelsea Terry (Charleston, S.C./James Island) all return after being named to the First Team last year, while redshirt senior Emily McColl (Wellington, New Zealand/Hutt Valley) and Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) are back after being named to the Second Team. Coastal Carolina also has three players back after making the Big South All-Freshman Team - Anna Tupy (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison), Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) and Sara Niles (Elgin, Ill./Elgin).   UP NEXT: Coastal Carolina opens its home schedule with the Coastal Carolina Tournament September 5 and 7. The Chanticleers face Georgia Southern Friday at 7:30 p.m., and Longwood Sunday at 3 p.m.