Box Score MORROW - No. 12 Columbus State women's soccer scored four goals in the first 20 minutes of play and coasted to 8-1 Peach Belt Conference win over Clayton State Wednesday night at Laker Field. Columbus State improved to 10-1-1 and 5-1 in conference while the Lakers dropped to 3-8 and 1-6 in the PBC.
"I was proud of the way the team responded after the weekend," stated head coach Jay Entlich. "We came out ready to play and put Clayton State under pressure from the start. We have to continue to work and get better, especially with a tough weekend ahead against two quality teams in Barry and Tampa."
Stephanie Parrish scored two goals in the contest tying her with Gina Goforth for the most goals in Lady Cougars history with 48. The senior is already the school's all-time leader in points, now standing at 115.
Leslie Mathews almost got the visitors on the board five minutes into the contest when she received a cross from Kim Gaughan, but her shot went straight to the Clayton State goalkeeper. Gaughan kept on her offensive pressure taking a ball down the right side, playing a square ball to Kelsey Bass who quickly turned and played it across to Kate Walton. Walton settled the ball and fired it to the near left post for a 1-0 lead 10:25 into the contest.
In the 13th minute Kansas Bayly got a pass from Jordan McKenzie and took a shot in nearly the identical spot as Walton, giving CSU a 2-0 lead. A minute later, Melinda Bush was played in behind the defense and beat the keeper on a break away. Walton picked up the assist on the play. Bush nearly got a second goal when Mathews shot hit off the post and ricocheted back into the field of play, but the ball was cleared before she could knock it in.
The fourth goal of the offensive barrage by the Lady Cougars came at the 20:21 mark in the first half. Jordan McKenzie served a ball into the box which K.C. MacEachern settled and turned in the box. She played a great ball to a streaking Parrish for a one-time finish. Parrish got the historical goal late in first 45 minutes of play with just 48 seconds remaining. Ashton Ziadie found Catherine Lovin on a throw-in. The sophomore spun around and played a ball over the top to Parrish who ran on to the ball and beat Stefania Cola, who was coming off her line to corral the ball.
Things kept on clicking for the visitors as the second half got underway. Stephanie Lowery played a ball up the left flank to Bush who beat a defender and got the ball back to Lowery. The midfielder made a couple of cuts and hit a beautiful curling shot to the far right upper-ninety in the 53rd minute. Four and a half minutes later, Lowery notched her second goal of the match. She received a ball from Gaughan and took another bending shot to the far right post for her team leading 11th goal of the year. The tally puts her in a tie for eighth on the CSU single-season goals list.
Clayton State got on the board later in the second half off a counter-attack. Caitlin Clark played a ball to the penalty box to Natalia Valentine who fired a shot to the left side of the goal for her third goal of the year. It was just the fourth goal of the year that Columbus State has given up this year.
Ziadie scored her first career goal to put the final tally on the scoreboard with 10:10 to play. McKenzie took a corner kick which Bayly flicked on to Ziadie, who headed it home. The assist for McKenzie was her 12th of her career, putting her in a tie for 9th all-time.
Columbus State dominated the stat sheet outshooting the hosts 33-10 including a 20-2 edge in the first half. The Lady Cougars also took 11 more corner kicks, 14-3. Willi Babillis made her first collegiate start picking up her second win improving to 2-0-1 on the year. The freshman stopped her only shot faced. Mary Mancin came in the second half and denied the lone shot on goal by Clayton State. Cola's record drops to 3-8 while making 13 saves in the process.
The Lady Cougars continue its season long five-game road trip with a trip to the Sunshine State over the weekend with matches against Barry University and the University of Tampa. The first contest is on Friday against Barry. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
