After starting the season with two losses, the Lady Roadrunners have now won four-straight after defeating Life (Ga.) 2-0 at Lupo Family Field in Marietta on Sunday.
A trade of offensive exchanges began the match. It started when a Caylee Carpenter went wide seven minutes in for the Lady Roadrunners. Alexandra Collighan was next up for Life with back-to-back shots at the end of the 9' and beginning of the 10' that both went wide.
Grasping the momentum, the Lady Birds went on the attack.
Cynthia Coronel got a good look at the net in the 16', but her shot traveled high. Three minutes later Sarah Chamale was the next player to get a crack a breaking the scoreless tie. Chamale converted to give the Lady Roadrunners a 1-0 lead.
Dalton State stayed on the attack as Keyle Snyder got in on the mix. Her shot in the 24' would be saved by Lady Eagle netminder Julia Vila Punset, but the rebound came back to Snyder who found Chamale for her second goal of the day and the 2-0 lead.
The rest of the period belonged to Life as they tried to get a point on the board. In the final 13 minutes of the half, the Lady Eagles outshot the Lady Roadrunners 5-1, but Mattie Dollar was up to the task as she collected two saves with the other shots going high or wide. At the break, DS held on to the 2-0 lead.
Life went on the attack first out of the half getting a shot on Dollar in the 49'. Dollar came up with the save off the boot of Sarah Slingluff to keep the shutout intact.
The Lady Eagle D shut down the Dalton State attack while creating opportunities of their own. Collighan had chances in the 71' and 75' with one shot going high and the other being stopped by Dollar.
With time running out, Life took one more crack at it and tried to get points on the board. Slingluff's shot in the 83' was once again saved by Dollar, while Zoe Hagan's attempt went high in the 84' as the shutout stood and Dalton State collected the 2-0 win.
Dalton State (Ga.) improves to (4-2 overall) with the win, while Life (Ga.) falls to (0-7 overall) with the loss. Sarah Chamale was close to racking a hat trick with two goals. Keyle Snyder came close to at least one more and garnered the assist on Chamale's second goal.
The duo combined for five of the Lady Roadrunners eight shots on the day, while Mattie Dollar played rock solid in goal with another clean sheet and five saves. Caylee Carpenter (2) and Cynthia Coronel (1) were the other Lady Birds to have shots.
Sarah Slingluff led Life with two shots on goal, while Alexandra Collighan led with five shots overall. Julia Vila Punset recorded only one save and allowed the only two goals of the afternoon.
Life neutralized the Dalton State attack over the final 60' minutes of the game as they Lady Eagles outshot the Lady Roadrunners 12-8 overall a 5-3 on goal. DS has now won four-straight matches after dropping their first two of the season and are now two matches over .500 on the season.
The Lady Birds will be back in action on Tuesday, September 24 when they travel to Lebanon, Tenn. to face Mid-South Conference member and #23-ranked Cumberland (Tenn.). Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. (CT).