CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel women's soccer team came back from being down 2-0 to Chattanooga in the first 10 minutes of Friday's Southern Conference (SoCon) game at Washington Light Infantry (WLI) Field to force double overtime, but the Mocs were able to make one final play in the 108
th minute to escape Charleston with the 3-2 victory.
"In general, I think this was the first time since I've been here that we've come back from a 2-0 deficit," said head coach
Ciaran Traquair. "To come back and get it to 2-1 and give ourselves a chance to make some adjustments at halftime was very beneficial and I thought we were the better team in the second half. I was just waiting on that second goal to come and it eventually did come off that set piece. Cierra did a really great job of picking up that second ball and putting it into the back of the net. But I'm just disappointed for our players because I feel like they put everything into getting a positive result today, especially there at the end."
Chattanooga's Chloe Arnold scored all three goals for the hat trick while Bulldog graduate student
Cierra Skyers had both of The Citadel's scores.
The Mocs (4-8-3, 2-3-1 SoCon) got off to a quick start as Catherine Meyer found Arnold just outside the box nearly seven minutes in. Arnold quickly turned the ball to goal and scored.
Nearly three minutes later, Arnold dribbled past a couple of defenders and finished for her second goal of the game.
Skyers broke up the Mocs' bid for a shutout in the 31
st minute when she took a free kick from
Sam Waarum and flicked the ball over the keeper's outstretched hands and into the net.
The goal seemed to breathe new life into the Bulldogs (5-9, 0-6 SoCon) and they came out in the second half with more energy than Chattanooga. Despite being out-shot by the Mocs 6-5 in the period, the Bulldogs seemed to take better advantage of their chances and it eventually paid off in the 84
th minute when Skyers took a pass from Waarum and dribbled through several would-be defenders before sending a strike into the net.
Skyers' seventh goal on the season sent the game into the first of two golden goal overtimes. It was the first overtime game for the Bulldogs this season and first since The Citadel fell 1-0 to VMI in the first round of last season's SoCon Tournament.
The Bulldogs continued to put pressure on the Mocs through one overtime period and then another, but Chattanooga was eventually able to put the game away when Arnold found the ball near the top of the box and, dribbled to the left of goal setting up the score.
Logan Leask (L, 1-7) made seven saves in goal for the Bulldogs, but was saddled with the loss while Melia Correa (W, 2-4) earned the win while making six saves for the Mocs.
The Bulldogs have one final home match this season, hosting Samford on Sunday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m. The match against Samford will serve as the Bulldogs' Senior Day. It will be the last home match for four-year letterwinners
Tori Zeltner,
Tinslee Dilday and
Ray Brown, as well as graduate students
Georgia Robert,
Samara Nche and Skyers.
For more information and score updates on The Citadel soccer team, follow @CitadelWSoccer on Twitter or visit CitadelSports.com.