Charleston, S.C. – Samantha Childress, Merlin Beckwith and Jenna Caudle each scored two goals to lead Appalachian State to a 9-3 victory over The Citadel in a Southern Conference women’s soccer game Friday at WLI Field.

The Citadel must now earn a win or a tie against Western Carolina at home on Sunday in order to keep its SoCon playoff hopes alive. The Bulldogs have nine points in the league standings and are tied with Davidson for the eighth and final spot. The Wildcats, who play at Wofford tonight, own the tiebreaker over The Citadel on the strength of a win in the head-to-head meeting.

The Bulldogs (5-9-2, 3-6 SoCon) are seeking their first berth in the SoCon tournament since 2010. Appalachian State, meanwhile, improved to 7-5-4 and 4-1-4 in the league and is in position to host an opening round game when the playoffs get underway on Nov. 3.

Ana Mesa, Lea Raedle and Montana Hinson scored for The Citadel, but the Bulldogs did not get on the board until the Mountaineers had already built a 4-0 lead by the halfway mark of the opening half.

Mesa and Raedle both scored for the third time this season while the freshman Hinson tallied her first career goal. Julia Holz, Kate Ward and Amy Werdine also found the net for Appalachian State.

Mesa scored the first goal of the game for The Citadel in the 24th minute, but Caudle answered 10 minutes later to give Appalachian State a 5-1 lead at halftime. Childress scored her team-leading 10th goal of the season 6:20 into the second half and Beckwith followed 20 seconds later to make it a 7-1 game.

Naomi Carter started in goal for the Bulldogs and made seven saves while Sam Millspaugh saw her first action of the season, playing the final 23 minutes and recording a pair of stops. Megan Roberson had four saves in 60 minutes for the Mountaineers, and Amy Kolowsky had one save in 30 minutes.

The Citadel game against Western Carolina on Sunday begins at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs then wrap up their regular season with a non-conference home game against Francis Marion on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

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