Demorest, GA – The Piedmont College women’s soccer team sent their seniors out with another 1-0 win knocking off USA South foe Covenant College earlier tonight at Walker Athletic Complex. By doing so, the Lady Lions force a share of the USA South Regular Season Championship and claim their first regular season title of any kind since becoming a NCAA Division III member back in 2003.
Honored prior to kickoff were the Lady Lions’ three seniors graduating this year as veterans Kelsey Schaffernoth, Shayna Rogers, and Nikki Means all played what will be their second to last home game at Walker Athletic Complex earlier tonight. The three are the only senior class in the program’s NCAA Era to boast two conference tournament titles, two NCAA National Tournament appearances, and a conference regular season title as well.
The only score of the contest came with just minutes remaining in the first half as substitute Erin Bright forced an errant pass from the Covenant back to take a deflection and slip past the oncoming Scots keeper Lucy Johnson who was coming out to claim the ball. The goal was scored in the 43rd and would stand as the eventual game winner with Piedmont holding on for yet another 1-0 win in 2014, the 6th such victory this season for the Green and Gold.
Playing against a high pressure attack from the Scots, the Piedmont back four, led by senior Kelsey Schaffernoth, absorbed the pressure throughout the night allowing less than a handful of clear cut chances. On one such occasion, junior goalkeeper Michaela Gardner was up to the task making a brilliant first half save diving to her right on a near post shot to parry the ball out of bounds for a corner.
Gardner would go on to make five saves on the evening in total as the entire Piedmont team was able to get the ball down and play to keep possession in order to stifle the Covenant attack. Along with Schaffernoth, seniors Shayna Rogers and Nikki Means did their part as well in the midfield and up top respectively.
Means had a chance blocked away by the Covenant defense in the second half while Rogers looked to have played Kristen Newstrom in for a possibility to make it 2-0, but her shot was stopped by a diving Lucy Johnson who made seven saves on the night.
Piedmont outshot the Scots 11 to seven on the night, and also held the edge in corners, six to two. The first half goal would be all that the Lady Lions would need to claim the 1-0 result with their 13th shutout, a new NCAA Era record for the Green and Gold. For Gardner, the shutout is her 8th solo clean sheet of the season with all but one of those coming against USA South competition.
With the win, Piedmont wraps up the regular season at 14-4-1 and also improves on last year’s performance in conference play winning ten games in league action for the first time since becoming a USA South member in 2012. Finishing at 10-1-1 in the USA South, Piedmont clinches a share of the USA South Regular Season Championship along with Meredith College, but will take the #2 seed after tiebreakers due to the Avenging Angels’ 2-0 win over PC back in September.
The Lady Lions will now be set up to face the #7 seed in the league championship tournament, North Carolina Wesleyan College, in the quarterfinals which will be hosted right here at Walker Athletic Complex on Saturday, November 1st. Kickoff time will be 2:00 pm, and the match will be carried over the Mane Event Broadcasting Network with live stats and live video provided.
