MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The third-seeded College of Charleston women's soccer team was impressive in a 3-0 win over sixth seed Elon in the opening round of the Southern Conference Championship at Patriots Point on Sunday afternoon.

The win improves the Cougars to 12-7-1 and earns CofC its tied-for-program-best 12th win of the season.

The Cougars advance to the second round where they'll see the seventh-seed Georgia Southern on the campus of UNCG on Friday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m.

"It was a great way to start the Southern Conference Tournament," said head coach Christian Michner. "Elon is a very good team, very well coached and organized. We had to be very good today in order to win. As impressed as I am with the number of chances we created and the goals we scored today, I'm equally impressed with our ability to defend and not give up much to a team that's done really well on the offensive side. It was an all-around great performance by our girls. I'm really proud of them."

Hope Atkinson (Rumson, N.J.) netted a pair for the Cougars including the ultimate game winner. Maryam Buazza (Katy, Texas) scored a goal as well. Sarah Cardamone (Downingtown, Pa.) assisted all three goals for the Cougars.

CofC dominated possession in the match and benefited from a 24-6 shot advantage on the day.

The first mark came in the 18th minute when Cardamone sent a ball into the box from the left side of the pitch and Atkinson got her head to it to push the ball into the net.

In the 54th minute, Cardamone did well to keep a ball inbounds along the Elon endline and centered it to Buazza who volleyed the ball home for the 2-0 lead.

Just under three minutes later, Cardamone played a ball down the right side to Atkinson who collected it before the ball trickled out of play. She made a move back into the field of play and fired a shot over the keeper's head and off the far post and in from a virtually impossible angle.

"We have an important week ahead to prepare for whomever we play on Friday night," said Michner. "It's going to be a different atmosphere than we had today and an opportunity for our girls to go out and create their own environment. If we play as well as we can and as well as we have been then I think we have a great chance."