The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s soccer team came away with a 3-0 victory over Alabama A&M Friday afternoon at Finley Stadium in the season opener for both teams.
The Mocs got the scoring started with a goal in the second minute. Senior Masey Fox picked up a pass from junior Bailey Gale from the right side to give the Mocs a quick 1-0 lead.
“To start with the win was exciting,” Chattanooga head coach Gavin McKinney said. “I told the team they should be ecstatic anytime you get a good result in a match.
“I thought we started the game great.
Masey Fox got the first goal of her first game of her senior season. Then it took us a little while to setting into it I thought.”
Chattanooga controlled the ball through much of the game including the first half where the Mocs had five shots go wide in the 17 minutes before A&M would get it to the other end of the field for a long chance from Ayanna Gooden in the 22nd minute.
The second Chattanooga goal came just before the halftime break. Lauren Dluzewski had one shot high and another wide before Fox would avoid her defender on the left and pass it into Dluzewski in the box to make it 2-0 just 17 seconds before the end of the half.
“Good movement by Lauren,” McKinney said. “She did a lot of good things in the match coming off an injury. She gave really good minutes and energy.”
The second half played out much like the first with Chattanooga controlling much of the action. Sophomore Chloe Arnold had two shots blocked in the first 17 minutes and Bulldog keeper Jodi Medina would make saves on two more. However, in the 65th minute, freshmen Maggie and Samantha Shaw teamed up on a pair of passes to Arnold who knocked in into the right side of the net to make it 3-0.
“We probably should have taken our chances on several more opportunities throughout the day,” McKinney said. “It’s always positive when you’re creating chances.”
Chattanooga outshot Alabama A&M 19-1 and had seven shots on goal to the Bulldogs’ one. UTC keeper Melia Correa saved the only shot she saw while A&M’s keeper Jodi Medina made four saves on seven shots faced.
“Our back four and our goalkeeper and everybody in front has been great with their mentality defending as a team,” McKinney said. “It shows we’re willing to do the hard gritty work.”
Arnold had a team-high five shots with two on goal in her 76 minutes on the pitch. Junior Catherine Meyer, Fox and Dluzewski each had three shots with one on goal while Gale and freshman Hollie Massey each had two shots on the day. The Mocs took 11 shots in the opening frame and added eight in the second half.
Friday’s game, originally slated for a 3:00 p.m. start was moved up two hours to avoid possible inclement weather.
Chattanooga will head to Georgia Southern for its first match against the Eagles since GSU final season in the Southern Conference in 2013. The match has been moved up to a 1:00 p.m. with live stats and video available on the women’s soccer schedule on GoMocs.com.
Don’t forget to come out and ‘Meet the Mocs’ Sunday afternoon at the Chattanooga Market. Get autographs and selfies with your favorite Moc student-athletes. Soccer will be out of town.