The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s soccer team fell 2-0 at UNCG Saturday night in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference Tournament.
UNCG scored first just before the end of the first half. Cienna Rideout picked up a pass from Hannah Hoeksema who played the ball in from the far right. Rideout, from 10 yards out, slipped it into the upper right corner of the goal in the 42nd minute to lead 1-0 at intermission.
The Spartans’ second goal came in the 64th minute.
Heidi Vidarsdottir played the ball into Melanie Spensiero on the right side. She got around Chattanooga keeper Melia Correa and knocked it into the bottom left corner to make it a 2-0 match.
Correa topped 100 career saves with three on the night. Lauren Dluzewski had two shots late in the match. Her first, in the 78th minute, was a header shot wide. Her second, however, was much closer as the Mocs passed the ball around the top of the box, feeding Dluzewski on the right side. She fired a shot that was corralled by the UNCG keeper at the 83:11 mark of the match.
Chattanooga ends the season 5-10-4. The Spartans improve to 9-7-3 and advance to the semifinal round to be played next weekend in Birmingham, Ala.
“Tough end to the season. UNCG played well tonight and made things difficult for us," head coach Gavin McKinney said.
“We are very proud of the spirit our group displayed. We fought until the end. As we continue to progress as a program we believe more results will come our way. We are positive about the direction we are heading in.”
“Although we are excited about the future, we are very sad the careers of our seniors ended tonight. They have been phenomenal for us and we will truly miss them.”
Chattanooga graduates six seniors: Mallory Burman, Mackenzie Gregg, Brandy Herrera, Abby Linder, Emily Moseley and Amanda Ortiz.