Bulldogs travel to face South Carolina on Sept. 5.
Charleston, S.C. VMI got some help from a couple of juniors as Alexa Bernas and Erin Squires each notched their first goal of the season to lead the Keydets to a 2-0 victory over The Citadel on Friday evening at WLI Field. The Keydets picked up their first win of the season as they evened their record 1-1-0, while the Bulldogs fell to 0-3-0.
VMI (1-1-0) scored one goal in each half of play. The first came on a penalty kick by Bernas at the 37:15 mark. Bernas led the Keydet attack as she was responsible for half of VMI's 10 shots on the evening. The Keydets found the back of the net again in the 87th minute as Squires fired one from 25 yards out to give VMI a 2-0 advantage in the final minutes of the game.
VMI had 10 shots to the Bulldogs seven. The Dogs showed vast improvement from the first two games as they tallied four shots on goal compared to only one during the Caroline Pardee Invitational last weekend. VMI was also awarded the only four corner kicks.
“We played good soccer the entire game,” said head coach Bob Winch. “In the first two days of practice we talked about never letting the ball drop. The first goal the ball dropped in the box and the referee made the call, but if we had never let the ball drop in the first place we would not have been in that situation.”
The Bulldogs again had great energy in the backfield as sophomore Sarah Burke made her presence known and notched two shots on goal.
“Sarah put in a fantastic effort tonight,” commented Winch. “At the break, we singled Sarah out and challenged everyone on the field to play harder and stop watching. During the second half, everyone else brought it up to Sarah's level. It will drop eventually for us.”
Keydet keeper Jessica Rheinlander picked up her first win of the season, playing the entire 90 minutes and accumulating four saves. Junior keeper Brit Bunnell played her third consecutive complete game, while making four stops of her own. Bunnell now has 190 career saves, enough to move her into second all-time in career saves at The Citadel. The leader is Angie Ellenwood with 226.
Next up, the Bulldogs will travel to Columbia, S.C. to face SEC power South Carolina on Sept. 5 at 5 p.m. at Eugene Stone III Stadium. VMI will travel to Staten Island, N.Y. for a 4 p.m. tilt against Wagner.
