CCU

Women's Soccer Hits the Road for Three Matches This Week

Coastal Carolina faces Appalachian State, Longwood and Richmond this week.

       

Amy Haggard earned the win in goal Aug. 28 against Jacksonville.

Amy Haggard earned the win in goal Aug. 28 against Jacksonville.

Aug. 30, 2009

Coastal Carolina Women's Soccer Weekly Release Get Acrobat Reader

The Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer team (1-1) hits the road for three matches this week. The Chanticleers will face Appalachian State (1-1) in Boone, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 2 starting at 6 p.m. Coastal Carolina then travels to Farmville, Va., to compete in the Longwood Tournament. The Chanticleers face host Longwood (0-2) Friday, Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m., and then faces Richmond (1-1) Sunday, Sept. 6 at 12 p.m. Coastal Carolina split its two games of the Osprey Classic this past weekend, defeating Jacksonville 2-1 and falling to North Florida 4-0.

SCOUTING APPALACHIAN STATE: The Mountaineers are coming off a 1-0 win over Big South foe UNC Asheville Aug. 30. Sydney Hill scored the match’s lone goal at the 14:00 mark. Goalkeeper Caroline Clarke had two saves in the win. Appalachian State opened the season with a 1-0 loss at Charlotte on Friday night.

SERIES VS. APPALACHIAN STATE: Coastal Carolina leads the series against Appalachian State 2-0-2. The last time that the two teams have met was on Sept. 2, 2006 with the Chanticleers coming out on top 2-1 in the Big South Challenge in Charleston, S.C. The only time Coastal Carolina has played at Appalachian State was on Sept. 2, 2001, which ended in a 0-0 tie.

SCOUTING LONGWOOD: Longwood fell to Northeastern 3-0 and Sacred Heart 2-0 in its first weekend of action Aug. 28 and 30. Marcia Biddle had 11 saves in the the two games. Longwood returns nine starters and 17 letterwinners from last year’s squad that went 10-7-2.

SERIES VS. LONGWOOD: The Chanticleers hold a 4-0 series advantage on Longwood. The Chanticleers defeated the Lancers 2-1 Sept. 30, 2007 on goals from Blair Monroe and Ashleigh Gunning.

SCOUTING RICHMOND: The Spiders are coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to Hofstra Aug. 28. Shondel Archer scored the goal for Richmond at 33:52. Richmond opened the season with a 3-0 win over James Madison Aug. 22. Natalie LeClair had two goals in the win over the Dukes.

SERIES VS. RICHMOND: This will be the first meeting between Coastal Carolina and Richmond. In fact, this will be the first time Coastal Carolina has faced a team from the Atlantic 10 Conference.

CHANTS WIN SEASON OPENER: For the first time since the 2006 season, Coastal Carolina won its season opener. The Chanticleers defeated Jacksonville 2-1 in game one of the Osprey Classic Aug. 28 in Jacksonville, Fla. Coastal Carolina now is 4-5-1 all-time in season openers. NILES ASSISTS IN SEASON OPENERS: For the third straight year, junior Sara Niles (Elgin, Ill./Elgin) assisted on a goal in a Coastal Carolina season opener. This time, she found sophomore Tori Strengari (Newark, Del./St. Mark’s) for a goal to tie Jacksonville at 1-1. Niles now has seven career assists, which is one away from reaching Coastal Carolina’s career top-10 assist list.

GENTILE DELIVERS ON GAME-WINNER: Senior Dana Gentile (Utica, N.Y./Herkimer C.C.) scored on a penalty kick at 64:14, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving Coastal Carolina a 2-1 win over Jacksonville Aug. 28. Gentile scored her first game-winning goal and her fourth as a Chanticleer. She leads Coastal Carolina after two games with four shots and two shots on goal.

KEEPERS SPLIT TIME THIS PAST WEEKEND: Juniors Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) and Karen Pavlick (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) each played 90 minutes at the Osprey Classic in Jacksonville, Fla. Haggard earned her 25th win in a Chanticleer uniform, stopping two shots in the 2-1 win over Jacksonville Aug. 28. Pavlick made three saves against North Florida Aug. 30.

ROAD TRIP: The Chanticleers will play their first eight games away from home this season, which includes tournaments in North Florida, Longwood and William and Mary. The Chants will open the home schedule Tuesday, Sept. 15 against The Citadel. Coastal Carolina has seven home games this season, compared to 13 away from home.

WHO’S BACK: Coastal Carolina returns six starters and 15 letterwinners to the 2009 squad. While the backfield loses Chelsea Terry to graduation, seniors Corie Coles (Pilesgrove, N.J./Lynchburg College), Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) and Sarah McPartlan (Crystal Lake, Ill./Loyola (Ill.)) bring experience for the Chants defense. Junior goalkeepers Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) and Karen Pavlick (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) both saw playing time last season and return in 2009. Three of the four starters return in the midfield, as senior Samantha Teijelo (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel) and juniors Anna Tupy (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) and Sara Niles (Elgin, Ill./Elgin) anchor the Chants in the middle.

CHANTS TO REPLACE SCORING LOAD: Coastal Carolina lost 72 percent of its scoring from last season, including the top three goal scorers in Ashleigh Gunning (11 goals), Blair Monroe (eight goals) and Emily McColl (six goals). Junior Anna Tupy (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) is the Chants’ leading returning goal scorer with five. Senior Dana Gentile (Utica, N.Y./Herkimer C.C.) will start up top for Coastal Carolina. Gentile had three goals last season and was the nation’s leading scorer in junior college in 2007 for Herkimer Community College.

BACK-TO-BACK REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPS: Coastal Carolina earned an outright regular-season championship for the second straight year after tying High Point 2-2 on Nov. 1, 2008. Seniors Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) and Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) scored goals for the Chants in the tie, while sophomore Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) saved four shots in 110 minutes.

CHANTICLEERS PICKED SECOND IN BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL: The Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer team has been picked to finish second in the 2009 Big South Preseason Poll, as voted by the League’s head women’s soccer coaches. The Chanticleers were just one point away from tying Radford University for the top spot. The Highlanders earned 86 points, including three first-place votes, to earn preseason favorite honors. The Chanticleers had 85 points and matched Radford with three first-place votes. Charleston Southern was picked to finish third, garnering 79 points and three first-place votes. High Point earned 69 points and was predicted to finish fourth. Liberty earned one first-place vote and had 56 points for fifth. Winthrop and VMI were picked to finish sixth and seventh with 55 and 42 points, respectively. They were followed by UNC Asheville (31 points), Gardner-Webb (27 points) and Presbyterian.

TUPY EARNS RUNNER-UP IN PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR VOTING: Junior midfielder Anna Tupy (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) finished runner-up to Radford’s Lisa Lubke in the Big South Preseason Player of the Year balloting. Tupy had five points and two first-place honors, tying VMI’s Audrey Falconi for second place. Lubke had 12 points and four first-place votes. Tupy scored five goals in 2008, including four game-winners. She had the game-winning goal with 14 seconds remaining in a win over Liberty and now has 12 career points after two seasons as a Chanticleer.

CHANTS RANKED IN TOP DRAWER SOCCER’S TOURNAMENT 64: Coastal Carolina is ranked 60th in Top Drawer Soccer’s National Tournament 64 ranking, the website announced recently. The Tournament 64 rankings are a running attempt to project the postseason college soccer tournament qualifiers, including every automatic conference berth. The University of Portland leads the poll, followed by North Carolina, Stanford, UCLA and Notre Dame.

CHANTS RETURN THREE ALL-BIG SOUTH PLAYERS: Coastal Carolina seniors Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) and Sarah McPartlan (Crystal Lake, Ill./Loyola (Ill.)) and junior Anna Tupy (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) all return after being named to the 2008 All-Big South Second Team. The Chanticleers also return sophomore Marissa Terry (Charleston, S.C./James Island), who was named to the Big South’s All-Freshman Team.

CHANTS ANNOUNCE CAPTAINS: Seniors Corie Coles (Pilesgrove, N.J./Lynchburg College) Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) and Sarah McPartlan (Crystal Lake, Ill./Loyola (Ill.)) will be the Coastal Carolina women’s soccer captains this season. Coles played in nine games last season, but missed action from Sept. 24-Oct. 27 due to an injury. She had two assists on the season and has three assists in her two-year Chanticleer career. Hellberg was a 2008 All-Big South Second Team member, scoring a goal and adding three assists last season for Coastal Carolina. Hellberg has three career goals and five career assists in her three years for the Chants. McPartlan also was an All-Big South Second Team selection last year, as she had four assists at both the forward and backfield positions.

UP NEXT: Coastal Carolina travels to Elon, N.C., to face the Elon Phoenix Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m.