DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The seventh-ranked Embry-Riddle women's soccer team capped of its regular season schedule with a 5-0 shutout of Sun Conference opponent South Carolina Beaufort, Sunday at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium. Sunday's game marked the final regular season home contest for Eagle seniors
Ange Durston-Ryan,
Lauren Gallant,
Lauren McCall,
Krizzy Menez,
Holly Sandon,
Allison Schultz and
Brianna Zangara. The senior class delivered, scoring four of the five goals to give the Eagles (13-4, 8-1) The Sun Conference's North Division title.
The Eagle defense limited the Sand Sharks to just four shots in the game, three of which were taken in the second half, with only one needing Gallant to make a save. On the other side of the ball, the Eagles tested Chelsie Mummert with 25 shots, 12 of which were on goal, resulting in two goals in the first half and three in the second.
The Eagles' first goal started when
Helena Hansson played a ball from the center of the field out to Durston-Ryan. Durston-Ryan turned and dribble down the right side and launched a ball that went across the goal and into the upper left side netting to put the Eagles up 1-0 just 3:49 into the contest.
After a bit of a stalemate, the Eagles got their second goal of the day in the 29th minute when
Krizzy Menez slipped a ball through to
Valerie Obita who dribbled about 50 yards into the box before slotting a shot past Chelsie Mummert for a 2-0 Eagle advantage at the half.
The Eagles continued to pressure the Sand Shark defense in the second half but it took 20 minutes for the Blue and Gold to add another goal to their tally. At the 66 minute mark,
Katherine Ebbs passed the ball out wide to Obita who dribbled into the box before getting a shot off. Mummert got her fingertips to the ball but Menez was on hand to grab the rebound and tapped in her 11th goal of the year to make the score 3-0.
Less than two minutes later, Obita and Menez combined for another score as Obita played a ball through to Menez that not only split two defenders, but caught Mummert way off her line. Menez took a quick touch to get by Mummert and walked the ball into goal to extend the Eagle lead to 4-0.
With 15 minutes left in the contest, ERAU Head Coach
Samantha Bohon made a few lineup changes, one of which was moving senior
Brianna Zangara from defense to the front line. Ten minutes later, the move paid off as Zanagara took a pass from Gabriela Cassariego and knocked in the first goal of her Embry-Riddle career to seal the Eagle win.
Mummert finished with seven saves for USCB who moved to 9-9 overall and 4-5 in the league.
As the winners of the North Division, the Eagles will play the South Division winner for The Sun Conference regular season title on Oct 31. The winner of that game will receive the league's first automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship. The loser will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which begins with the quarterfinal round on Nov. 1.
