University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Bailey Gale pushed home the game winner Friday night in a 1-0 victory over VMI in Southern Conference women’s soccer action. The Mocs improve to 9-4-3 on the year and 4-2-1 in league play while the Keydets fall to 1-13-1 overall and 0-6 against the conference.
In the 20th minute Emily Szymanski picked up a pass on the left side in front of the goal and tried to slide kick the ball but it was deflected by the VMI keeper right to Gale who picked it up just outside the six-yard box and shot it past two Keydet defenders for the game winning goal.
Chattanooga outshot VMI 9-7 but the Keydets were unable to get close to the net and the Mocs had a 5-0 shots on goal advantage.
UTC keeper Ashton Shields earned her sixth shutout of the season, matching her total from a year ago.
Gale and Szymanski each had two shots and four more took a chance for the Mocs. Sierra Brewer had a game-best three shots and Sam Franklin added two for VMI.
Before the game head coach Gavin McKinney was presented a ball by Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Mark Wharton in commemoration of his 100th career victory on Sept. 27 against Wofford.
The Mocs also celebrated seniors Bailey Gale, Anna Moore and Jordan Mueller before the game. The trio were members of McKinney’s first recruiting class and has led UTC to 28 wins in the last four years.
The night was also Breast Cancer Awareness Night. The team donned pink jerseys for the match and fans wore pink and were given pink ribbons at the gate.
SCORING SUMMARY
1 19:12 UTC Bailey Gale (Emily Szymanski)