Jamie Adams, junior; Bri Bitz, junior; and Ashlynn Mitcham, junior, combined for the Panthers’ lone goal Saturday in what ended in a 1-1 tie with Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista.
In the previous game, the ladies dropped a 1-0 contest to Greensboro College in a game that Head Coach Erin Saleeby felt they should have won.
“After losing a game you should win, you never know how the team will respond,” Saleeby said. “I told them that it was up to them as to how they responded. A game like that can make or break your season. You can be fine with it, or your can get better and work to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Saleeby said the team decided to take it into their own hands.
“They worked very hard the two days after that game,” she said. “They took care of their bodies, they came in for film, they did extra work on their own or with myself and my assistant, and they worked hard in training sessions. They were excited to take the field and prove that they were better than they showed the other night.”
The Lady Panthers battled the Knight’s hard, Saleeby said.
“They were an incredibly athletic team. Maybe the most athletic that we will see all season,” she said. “They were also very physical, and that is something that only makes us better and gets us more prepared for the tough conference games we have ahead of us.”
The Panthers drew blood first, with the Admas/Bitz/Mitcham combo notching a score at the 33-minute mark.
The goal was off of a short goal kick. The keeper played the ball short inside the box to a center back, who played it to the other center back who misplayed another pass into the midfield. Mitcham intercepted the ball and played it to Bitz, who quickly turned and played a through ball to Adams, who was running across her defender from the left side.
Adams took it on her first touch and shot it into the net on the keeper’s right hand side. Bitz was credited with the assist.
The ladies held the lead until the 80-minute mark. SVU’s goal came from a cross on the right side.
“It went far post, and she just got enough on it to go in. I think it hit off her stomach,” Saleeby said.
She found several positives in the game.
“Our strength was definitely our keeper Ashli Wuss,” she Saleeby said. “She was fantastic in this game. Our defense did a great job of not allowing them to have many dangerous opportunities. They had a lot of shots but most of them were not on frame.”
The tie puts the Panthers at 2-1-1 on the season–all non-conference games.
The Panthers will be back in action Wed., Sept. 13, at home against Meredith College. The non-conference game is slated for a 4 p.m. start at Penn-Roediger Field.
