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Women?s Soccer Defeated 3-1 on Senior Day by Birmingham-Southern

LEXINGTON, Va.- Birmingham-Southern made the most of their opportunities Friday afternoon, as the Panthers secured a spot in the 2005 Big South Conference Women's Soccer Championship with a 3-1 win over VMI on the Keydets' senior day at Patchin Field.

The Panthers (7-10-1, 3-4 Big South) jumped on top early and never let up, as they grabbed the lead in the 15th minute on Julie Andra's (Birmingham, Ala.) third goal of the season, when she knocked home a rebound of a shot by Anne McIntyre (Birmingham, Ala.) from just left of the goal. Just over a minute before halftime, the Panthers pushed the margin to a two-goal lead when Caroline Reehl (Fair Hope, Ala.)found the back of the net with her second goal of the season.

The Keydets (7-11, 1-6 Big South) picked up the pace after halftime. After being outshot 7-6 in the first half, the Keydets would end up putting up nine shots to the Panthers' three in the second frame. However, one of those three shots was successfully converted by Brittney Jones (Peachtree City, Ga.), who scored her first goal of the season on a 1-on-1 chance with VMI keeper Jessica Rheinlander (Manassas, Va.) in the game's 66th minute.

But the home team would not give up. VMI got on the board on a well-placed shot by junior Karen Bill (Yorktown, Va.), who scored her fourth of the season after a pass from junior Colleen Redmond (Brownsburg, Ind.) found her in the box. While VMI would keep the pressure on for the rest of the match, they could not find the back of the net, thanks to three saves by BSC keeper Andria Gray (Birmingham, Ala.), who worked the second half of action.

“My hats off to Birmingham-Southern for how they came in to play us,” said VMI head coach Bryan Williams. “They played an intelligent, tactical game against us, and we struggled with the slowed-down pace for the first 20-25 minutes because our last three games had been up-tempo. But after that we pressed and were able to get into our type of soccer. We created opportunities but just couldn't find the back of the net until Karen's goal that was set up beautifully by Colleen. I feel like we could've done that more often, we just weren't able to capitalize on some of our chances. Looking at the stats, we outshot them, everything was very even, we just had a couple of defensive mistakes. They basically scored three counter-attack goals, and that's something that we have to handle better, especially versus Winthrop. But this team never gave up, they played with the same heart they've shown all season, and we were still in the game with a minute-and-a-half to go. This team is still capable of playing very good soccer.”

The stats were indeed even, as VMI held a 15-10 advantage in shots, but each team had six saves and no corner kicks. The Panthers were whistled for 14 fouls to VMI's six and seven offside violations to VMI's two. In goal, Rheinlander kept the Keydets in the contest with several outstanding saves in the middle part of the contest, while Gray relieved Tina Ross (Peachtree City, Ga.), who played the first half in net, making three saves.

The Panthers will wrap up their road trip and regular season at High Point on Saturday in a 5 p.m. start, while the Keydets will take on Winthrop in Rock Hill, S.C. on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in a game that will most likely determine the final spot in the Big South Championship.

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