October 29, 2009

HARROGATE, Tenn. - The Lincoln Memorial University women's soccer team defeated Mars Hill College 4-2 on the LMU campus Thursday night. The Lady Railsplitters move to 7-7-2 on the year and 3-4 in South Atlantic Conference play, whle Mars Hill College falls to 2-15-1 overall and 0-7- 1 in the league.

The LMU women wasted little time in getting the offense going in their final home conference match of the year. Sarah Taylor hit the net at the 8:57 mark with help from teammate Samantha Meek to put LMU on top 1-0. LMU and MHC then went toe-to-toe for the remainder of the half with neither team able to to find nylon.

In the early minutes of the second half, Mars Hill's Garrett Patton (Woodruff, S.C.) used Jamila Walker's (Somerset, N.J.) pass to send a long shot over LMU keeper Sarah Thompson's outstretched hands and into the back far corner at the 50:55 mark. With the score now tied 1-1, the Lady Railsplitters realized the urgency of the situation and again wasted no time in regaining the lead. Less than five minutes after the Lion's equalizer, Lady Railsplitter reserve Jessica Meyers used teammate Jennah Kilroy's corner kick to send a header on frame that put the LMU women back on top 2-1 at the end of the 55th minute.

With LMU now back out front, the Lady Railsplitter's leading scorer on the year Sarah Taylor, caught a pass from senior Leanne Harkness and blasted in a quick shot from just outside the box to give the LMU women a 3-1 advantage in the 70th minute. The third goal took the legs out from under the Lions and only eight minutes later the Lady Railsplitter struck paydirt again when Meyer scored her second goal of the match off of teammate Samantha Meek's second assist of the afternooon to put LMU ahead 4-1.

In the 84th minute, Abby Martin (Greer, S.C.) used Artavia Murry's (Greensboro, N.C.) pass to slam in a shot from the left side to give both teams their final 4-2 margin.

Defensively, LMU keepers Sarah Thompson and Ashley Wallace combined for five saves with Thompson recording four and Wallace one. Each of LMU's keepers gave up one goal in the match.

Mars Hill's Chelsea Parker (Richmond, Va.) played more than 72 minutes of the match, recording eight saves and giving up three goals, while teammate Becca Sellars (Loveland, Ohio) played nearly 18 minutes, notching three saves and had one goal against.

Boxscore...

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