Box Score AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken women's soccer team tallied a 3-2 victory over Young Harris Wednesday afternoon as head coach Hilary George picked up her first career victory.
The Pacers are now 1-5 on the year and 1-1 in Peach Belt Conference action.
USC Aiken fell behind in the early going as the Mountain Lions netted the first goal of the match 10:18 into the contest. However, George's team would not stay down for long.
At the 19:52 mark, Hazel Kelley broke through a pair of defenders and blasted a shot past the keeper, knotting the score at 1-1.
From that moment on, the Pacers pushed forward in the opening period. Jenna Beauregard took a corner kick and Megan Smits hit the crossbar just 21:15 into the match. USC Aiken had a breakaway, but the squad was whistled for being offside.
In the 34th minute of play, Kelley turned in the center of the pitch and played the ball to Hannah Allison, who rocketed home her first goal of the year from 25 yards out for a 2-1 lead. Her shot curled into the upper right of the goal, out of the reach of the keeper. Kelley picked up an assist on the goal.
Allison, fresh off the goal, registered her second tally of the match, which turned out to be the game-winning score, in the 40th minute. Smits dribbled down the right side of the pitch. Once she got near the end-line in the box, she played the ball to the center of the frame and Allison one-timed it into the back of the net for a 3-1 margin. Smits was credited with an assist on the play.
YHC bounced back, pulling within one at 3-2 just 1:04 into the second period.
Although the score remained the same for the remainder of the match, the activity level was extremely high.
Allison nearly had two more goals in the final 43 minutes of work. She blasted a shot in the 48th minute of play that the keeper was able to snag. In the 77th minute, Allison launched an attempt from 30 yards out that narrowly missed finding the back of the net.
In the final few minutes of the match, USC Aiken's defense stepped up – even more so than the rest of the contest. Keeper Karin Cadwalader made a couple of outstanding plays as she came off her line to stop a breakaway while also controlling the box on a corner kick.
For the match, Cadwalader played all 90 minutes and had a save. The Pacers out-shot the Mountain Lions 10-4. However, YHC held a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks.
The Pacers return to action on Saturday when they play at Columbus State. The match is slated to start at 1 p.m.
