MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. --- The Lees-McRae women’s soccer team scored twice in the first half, and held off a furious rally by Milligan College en route to a 2-1 win over the Buffaloes on Saturday night. With the win, the Lady Bobcats improve to 1-1 on the season as first-year head coach Cally Morrill picks up her first career victory.
Mary Dorn (Shallot, N.C.) and Vickie Rich (Arlington Heights, Ill.) each tallied a goal to put the Lady Bobcats on the board early in the first half, with Rich’s 19th-minute strike proving to be the match-winner for LMC. Kaitlyn Kerrigan (Lakewood Ranch, Fla.) added an assist for the Lady Bobcats as Rachel Martin (Blountville, Tenn.) scored the lone goal for Milligan.
Milligan put on early pressure with a quick attack in the first minute. The Lady Bobcats answered back, pushing the flow of the contest and dominating the ball for much of the opening ten minutes. Dorn opened the scoring late in the 14th minute, driving a header past the Milligan keeper off a perfectly placed corner from Kerrigan to give Lees-McRae the early 1-0 lead.
The Lady Bobcats struck again in the 19th minute when Rich took the ball and negotiated the pitch, weaving her way past two defenders and finding the corner of the net off the Milligan keeper’s hands to give Lees-McRae the 2-0 advantage. The contest continued with a back and forth pace through much of the opening half, with Lees-McRae holding a 2-0 lead at the interval.
As the second half progressed, Milligan seemed to gain life, and in the 72nd minute, pulled within one of LMC when Martin found her way into the box, dribbling around the Bobcat keeper and netting the ball to cut the deficit to one. Milligan continued the pressure over the next six minutes, placing two shots close with one deflecting off the post in addition to two of Brittany Bolton’s (Roanoke, Va.) six saves for Lees-McRae.
The Lady Bobcats tallied 29 attempts on goal with 15 of those on frame, while Milligan registered 16, seven of which were on target. Rich recorded a match-high 10 shots, including six on frame, while Brooke Santerre (Port Republic, Md.) added seven of her own for Lees-McRae.
The Lady Bobcats return to the pitch on Wednesday, September 8, at 7 p.m. when they host Mars Hill College at Tate Field.
