Ashlynn Mitcham put three in the back of the net Sunday as the women’s soccer team scored half a dozen goals to Pfeiffer University’s one for a 6-1 thrashing of the Falcons.
“Overall, I think that the team did well,” said Head Coach Erin Saleeby. “We tried to force the ball a little bit more than I would like but they were giving us a lot of space to run in behind the defense and we tried to exploit that too much. The strongest element was the movement from out forwards. They were very in sync.”
Mitcham, a forward, got the Panther party started early when she scored an unassisted goal only 2:31 ticks into the game.
She wasn’t done however, and made the score 2-0 Panthers when she was assisted by Jessie Howison, freshman, and Jamie Adams, junior at the 26:15 mark.
Freshman Nat Eikhoff made the score 3-0 when she took an assist from fellow freshman Rachel Deffenbaugh and fired it past the Falcon goal keeper with 5:28 remaining in the half.
The Panthers took the 3-0 score into the break.
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Pfeiffer won a penalty kick and converted to spoil the Panthers’ clean sheet.
“We just tried to implore them to keep the ball more and to play with a little bit more heart,” Saleeby said. “It was hot and they were tired, but so was Pfeiffer.”
A little more than five minutes later, junior Bri Bitz scored off a Kayla Fedison, junior, assist at the 58:35 mark to make the score 4-1 Panthers.
About 30 seconds later, Bitz fed Mitcham for her third goal of the afternoon, ratcheting up the score to 5-1.
Freshman Alondra Vera rounded out the goal fest when she scored on unassisted play at the 79:05 mark.
All in all, four Panthers scored points in the match, and Mitcham’s hat trick is the 27th overall since women’s soccer launched on campus in 1990.
It had been four years since the last hat trick–when Carey Raggett netted three goals against Averett University in 2019.
For the game, the Panthers notched 22 shots–19 on goal, took two corner kicks, and were offside five times.
Mitcham had a total of five shots–placed them all on frame, and recorded the hat trick. Bitz took two shots, both on goal, and recorded one assist. Eikhoff took five shots.
“Pfeiffer played a high line, and it was very easy to get in behind,” Saleeby said. “We didn’t have to play around as much as we typically do. I was most happy that we had some unselfish plays this game where some would give up a shot to make a great pass for an assist.”
