COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's soccer team rode a strong opening 30 minutes of play to jump out a 2-0 lead and an earn their first win of the season with a 3-1 victory at Ursinus College Wednesday night.
"We're excited to get the first one under our belt for the season," stated Head Coach Brienne Smith. "We made some key adjustments at halftime, sorting on the spacing of our midfielders and coverage, and that allowed us to come out strong in the second half and get the important third goal."
The Greyhounds controlled play early with Kirsten Schall getting a shot on goal in the second minute of action and Melissa Pavia just missing the net in the ninth minute. Clark put another shot on goal for Moravian in the 15th minute. The Greyhounds had a corner kick 30 seconds later with Kaylan Bruzzone heading home Schall's corner for her first goal of the season.
"Kaylan was our player of the game tonight," Smith said. "She had a great finish with the header goal from the top of the 18 on Kirsten's corner kick. She is also our left outside back and did a great job covering probably two of the quickest forwards we'll see this season."
After Ursinus controlled the possession for four minutes, Schall put another shot on goal that led to another corner kick. This time, Bruzzone's header was saved but the Greyhounds received another corner. Schall volleyed the ball into the box again with Bruzzone's shot be stopped on the goal line by an Ursinus defender. The ensuing loose ball ended up on the foot of Caroline Clark, who found the back of the next for the first time this season and increased Moravian's lead to 2-0.
The Greyhounds kept the Bears out of the 18-yard box for a majority of the first half as most of Ursinus' shots were from far out. The Bears were able to slip through the Moravian defense in the 39th minute to score and cut the lead in half.
Early in the second half, each team had shots on goal before Schall netted her second marker of the season in the 64th minute as Catherine Lamplugh fed a pass to Schall, who took the pass just outside the 18 before scoring.
"Getting the third goal was the key to the win," Smith said. "When we scored, it took the wind out of their sails, and we were able to dominate the rest of the match."
The Greyhounds showed that domination as they put four shots on goal to just one for the Bears after Schall's tally. Both teams finished the match with 16 shots but the Greyhounds put 14 shots on goal while the Bear had just six shots on goal. Ursinus did have a 4-3 edge in corner kicks.
Senior goalie Genevieve Chaleff and sophomore keeper Jacqueline Zalis combined on the victory for Moravian with Chaleff recording five saves in 74 minutes of action and Zalis playing the final 16 minutes.
Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Saturday, September 7 when the Greyhounds host DeSales University in a non-conference match in their 2013 home opener on the HUB Quad beginning at 12:00 p.m.
