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 Coach Tammy DeCesare and the Lady Catamounts Open Their Home Season Friday Night |
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Sept. 6, 2007
Cullowhee, N.C. - After opening the season with three games on the road, including two west of the Mississippi River, the Western Carolina women's soccer team finally comes back to the friendly confines of Cullowhee Friday evening when the Lady Eagles of Winthrop come to town.
The game marks the beginning of the third season for the Catamount Athletic Complex, which opened in 2005. The Cats have found immediate success in their new digs, going 11-5-1 over the first two years, including an impressive 7-2 mark in the opening season. The site was also recognized by the conference when it was chosen to host the 2006 Southern Conference Championship, only the fifth different site to host the tournament in its history.
The Catamounts come into Friday's match riding a two game winning streak after downing UNC Asheville 2-1 on Wednesday afternoon. That win pushed their record on the young season to 2-1-0, and marks the third consecutive season that Western has opened their home season with a winning record.
Success for the Cats has come by utilizing team play and capitalizing on the opportunities that come their way, not having a single player force the issue. This has shown up in the stat book, where nine different players have points on the season, with five different goal scorers and five who have come up with assists. Senior Lauren Atkinson is the only player who has filled up both columns, with a goal and two assists so far. Sophomore midfielder Bri Cunningham stakes claim to the only repeat scorer on the year, after she put in a pair of goals in the 4-0 win over Northern Colorado last Sunday.
Western will face a Winthrop team coming off of a Big South Championship last season, and who has tied both of their previous matches. The Eagles were picked to finish second in the preseason Big South polls, and have shown a stingy defensive back line in their opening matches, allowing only one goal in over 220 minutes of action. Goalkeeper Dimitra Poulos, the preseason Big South Player of the Year, has been in goal for every minute of the season, and has a goals against average of a paltry 0.41 goals per game.
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