Golden Eagles roll over Tennessee Wesleyan College, 4-0
The Golden Eagle soccer team shut down the Lady Bulldogs of Tennessee Wesleyan College Saturday afternoon in an exhibition game in Cookeville.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team netted a 4-0 victory Saturday afternoon over Tennessee Wesleyan College in the teams second and final exhibition contest of the preseason. The match on the Tech soccer field marked the first home competition of the year on the Tech campus, and a large crowd withstood the heat to show its support.
Tech took control of the game immediately, seizing possession early on and maintaining control of the ball throughout the first half. Senior Ashley Smith fueled the scoring with back-to-back goals in the eighth and 10th minutes of the game, taking advantage of a slow TWC start and setting the pace for the rest of the game.
“It was definitely a good confidence builder,” Smith said. “I think it sets a goal for me for the rest of my games and I think it starts my season off pretty well.
“But it takes a whole team, my teammates put in a lot of hard work for those goals as well,” Smith added.
Ten Golden Eagle players combined for a total of 24 shots against Tennessee Wesleyan, 15 of which came in the first half of the game. The Golden Eagle held the Lady Bulldogs to just three shots in the first half, shutting them down completely in the second.
Freshman keeper Becca Toler logged two saves in the first half of the game before being relieved by Megan Polk in the second half.
Kerri Reid notched the team’s third goal in the 55th minute of the game, and Jessica Wilson forced an own goal to give the Golden Eagles the 4-0 win.
Blair Kent played all 90 minutes for the Lady Bulldogs, tallying eight saves.
“Well, the outcome was great. I think it’s always nice to win a game and it was good to see us work out some things from the first game in our second game,” said head coach Daniel Brizard. “We definitely finished the ball better than we did in the last game. I think we did a good job overall. There are still some things that we need to work on, but hopefully we can keep up with it and take this momentum into Auburn.
“As far as being at home, I think the atmosphere was fantastic for a Saturday at four o'clock in the afternoon. We had plenty of fans out there,” he continued. “I think it was fantastic, the girls were really pumped for it and I think they loved it.”
The Golden Eagles will kick off the regular season on the road Friday, taking on Auburn in a night game at 7 p.m.