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Women's Soccer Heads to Charleston for the Big South Tournament

       

Women's Soccer Heads to Charleston for the Big South Tournament

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This Week in Coastal Women’s Soccer #1 Seed at the 2007 Big South Tournament Date: Nov. 8-11 Place: Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, S.C. Live Stats: www.csusports.com Live Video: www.Big SouthSports.com   The Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer team (13-5-1, 6-1 Big South) earned the top seed in the 2007 Big South Women’s Soccer Tournament Nov. 8-11 at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, S.C. Coastal, who earned the top seed for the first time in school history, faces eighth-seeded VMI Thursday at 2 p.m. If Coastal were to win that match, the Lady Chants would face the winner of Winthrop and Liberty Friday at 4:30 p.m. The championship game of the Big South Tournament takes place Sunday at 2 p.m.   SCOUTING VMI: The Keydets are making their first ever appearance in the Big South Tournament and are travelling to Charleston for the second time in five days. VMI fell to Charleston Southern 3-1 this past Saturday. Jessica Robbins scored the goal for the Keydets. VMI went 1-6 in the Big South, but its win was at Winthrop, a 2-1 victory. Robbins and Alexa Bernas both have six goals and four assists on the year, while Angela Redmond has a 1.80 goals-against average.    SERIES VS. VMI: Coastal has won all five meetings with VMI, including defeating the Keydets 2-0 Sept. 29 in Lexington, Va. Junior Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) and senior Emma Humphries (Wellington, New Zealand/Samuel Marsden College (Cal State Fullerton)) scored goals for the Lady Chants in the first half.   COASTAL BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Coastal is 1-5-3 all-time in the Big South Tournament. The host Lady Chants won their first-ever BSC Tournament game last season, 4-0 over Radford in the quarterfinals. CCU lost to Liberty 3-0 in the semifinals. Coastal has advanced to the semifinals twice (2001 and 2006) and are looking to make it to the championship match for the first time in school history.   REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS: Coastal 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. 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.   SHUTOUT RECORD UP TO NINE GAMES: The back line of junior Chelsea Terry (Charleston, S.C./James Island), Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) and sophomore Corie Coles (Pilesgrove, N.J./Woodstown (Lynchburg College)), along with freshman goalkeeper Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) helped Coastal to its ninth shutout of the season in a 1-0 win over Radford Nov. 3. Coastal broke its old record of seven shutouts set during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.   COASTAL ALSO LOOKING TO SET WINS RECORD THIS WEEK: With a win over VMI on Thursday, Coastal would set a school record for victories in a season. Coastal has 13 wins after the regular season, tying the 2005 and 2006 clubs.   GELSOMINO MOVES INTO TOP-10 IN CAREER SCORING LIST: Senior Amanda Gelsomino (Johnston, R.I./Johnston (University of New England)) scored the game-winning goal in CCU’s 2-0 win over USC Upstate Oct. 31. It was her ninth career goal and 21st career point, putting her 10th all-time in career points.   GUNNING, GELSOMINO NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS: Two Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer players earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III University Division honors by CoSIDA, the organization announced today (Nov. 1). Senior Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) was named to the Academic All-District First Team, while classmate Amanda Gelsomino (Johnston, R.I./Johnston (University of New England)) was a Second Team selection.         Gunning has a 3.81 grade-point average in communications. She is eligible for Academic All-America honors, which will be announced Nov. 20. Gelsomino has a 3.71 GPA in health promotions.   WIN IN LYNCHBURG A PROGRAM FIRST: Coastal won in Liberty for the first time in program history Oct. 27. Senior Emma Humphries’ (Wellington, New Zealand/Samuel Marsden College (Cal State Fullerton)) goal in the second half was the difference. Coastal was 0-3 at Liberty before this season.   WIN STREAK FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: Coastal’s 2-0 win over Winthrop gave the Lady Chanticleers their seventh straight win. That broke the previous school record of five, which was set in both the 2005 and 2006 seasons.   GELSOMINO NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Amanda Gelsomino (Johnston, R.I./Johnston (University of New England)) has been selected as the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Women’s Soccer Player of the Week for games played Oct. 1-7, it was announced today by the League office.         Gelsomino contributed in two scores and two wins for the Chanticleers last week to extend their winning streak to five games, and totaled three points with an assist and a goal. In Coastal’s first win of the week, Gelsomino found Presbyterian’s net in the 79th minute to break a scoreless tie, and earn a win for the Chanticleers. Her successful week continued as she added an assist on the game-winning goal at 69:30 against UNC Asheville to give CCU the 2-0 win. Gelsomino now has three goals and two assists on the season.   MONROE NETS HAT TRICK: Junior Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) had her third career hat trick in Coastal’s 6-1 win over High Point Oct. 8. She scored the game’s first two goals, including the game winner, and added a goal in the second half. Monroe leads the Big South with six game-winning goals. She had hat tricks against Chattanooga Sept. 4, 2005 and Longwood Sept. 29, 2005.   HELLBERG CONNECTS FOR FIRST CAREER GOAL: Sophomore Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) scored her first career goal, which was a game winner, in a 2-0 victory over UNC Asheville Oct. 6. Hellberg took a pass from senior Amanda Gelsomino (Johnston, R.I./Johnston (University of New England)) and ripped a shot by UNCA’s Veronica Lazar. Hellberg now has three points on the season.   COASTAL IN NCAA RANKINGS: Senior Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) is in the top-25 in the country in goals, assists and points per game thru games of Nov. 4, 2007. Gunning is 12th in points per game (1.94), 19th in goals per game (0.722) and 24th in assists per game (0.50). Freshman Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain) is 72nd in goals-against average (0.826). Coastal is in the top-100 in scoring offense (72nd, 1.79), winning percentage (36th, .711) and shutout percentage (54th, 0.474).   MONROE NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Coastal Carolina junior Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) has been selected as the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Women’s Soccer Player of the Week for games played Sept. 24-30, it was announced today by the League office.         Monroe posted three game-winning goals and tallied six points in three road wins last week, including two back-to-back games. In Coastal’s first win of the week, Monroe scored at 27:41 to ensure the Chanticleers a 2-0 win over the College of Charleston. In Coastal’s Big South opener against VMI, Monroe rifled a 20-yard shot to score in the second minute of the game, as the Lady Chants picked up another 2-0 victory. The following day, Monroe beat Longwood’s goalie with just over 10 minutes left in the game to lead CCU to the 2-1 win. She now has 30 goals in her career at CCU.   GUNNING NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) was named the Big South Conference Women’s Soccer Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 16.         Gunning had a memorable week, taking part in six of Coastal’s eight goals. For the week she tallied four goals and two assists for 10 points to lead the Chanticleers to three wins. In Coastal’s first victory and shutout of the season, Gunning contributed an assist on the game-winning goal, as CCU defeated The Citadel, 3-0. In Coastal’s second game of the week against Wagner, she became the first Chanticleer to record a hat trick since Bobbie Parsons on Oct. 16, 2005, as the Lady Chants came from behind to top Wagner, 3-2. Her first goal came in the second half at 55:36 to tie the score at 1-1. Exactly one minute after the Seahawks scored to retake the lead, Gunning found the back of the net to knot the game at 2-2, and finished off her performance by scoring a goal at 79:29 to close out the game with a victory.   In Coastal Carolina’s final contest of the week, Gunning scored the first goal of the game against North Florida at 16:38, and assisted on Coastal’s second goal to lead CCU to the 2-1 win.    MONROE NOW SECOND TO ONE: Junior Blair Monroe’s (North Myrtle Beach, S.C./Little River) first goal of the season Sept. 12 in a 3-0 win over The Citadel moved her into second place on Coastal’s all-time points list. She passed Kristina Fisher and now has 76 points in her CCU career. Bobbie Parsons leads Coastal with 95 career points. Monroe also is second at Coastal in shots (169) and goals (34).   COASTAL PICKED THIRD IN BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL: The Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer team has been picked to finish third in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll as voted by the League’s Head Women’s Soccer Coaches and Sports Information Directors, the conference announced today (Aug. 13). In addition, redshirt junior Emily McColl (Wellington, New Zealand/Hutt Valley) finished runner-up in the voting for the Big South Preseason Player of the Year.         Coastal received 98 points, including three first-place votes, to finish third in the balloting. Liberty was picked to win the conference, garnering 109 points and five first-place votes. Winthrop earned the second spot by one point, getting 99 points and a League-high six first-place votes. Coastal was followed by UNC Asheville (90 points, one first-place vote), High Point (59 points), Radford (57 points), Charleston Southern (45 points, one first-place vote) and VMI (19 points). McColl received three first-place votes and eight overall points to finish second in the Preseason Player of the Year voting. Winthrop’s Dimitra Poulos, the 2006 Big South Player of the Year, was named the Preseason Player of the Year with 11 first-place votes and 25 points.