King tops preseason favorite Belmont Abbey
BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University women's soccer team got the result they had been looking for. After dropping the last three, the Tornado came out strong to defeat Conference Carolinas preseason favorite Belmont Abbey College behind Rachel Thorpe, Hulda Sigurdardottir, and Miranda Smith's goals.
The game started off slow as both teams were not able to get anything going offensively. In the 14th and 16th minutes, King (5-3, 2-1 CC) tallied two corner kicks but nothing would come out of them.
In the 21st minute, the Tornado got their first. Thorpe carried the ball around the top of the box and delivered a shot over Hannah Kohls head, the Belmont Abbey keeper; her ninth goal of the season.
Less than a minute later, Belmont Abbey (2-5-2, 1-2 CC) got on the board. Theresa Mateo was dribbling the ball near the outside of the box, crossed it to Meghan Philp where she put the ball past Olivia Drake.
The rest of the period delivered nothing for either team taking the game into the half with a score of King 1, Belmont Abbey 1.
After the halftime speech from head coach Simon Duffy, the Tornado was ready to roll in the second half. Although the Crusaders started off strong posting three shots in the first ten minutes, Drake was able to keep the ball out of the net.
After three shots from King, another goal came. Sigurdardottir posted a class goal in the 65th minute, her first of the season. She received a cross from Lindsay Curtis off a set piece and sent a header past the keeper into the bottom right side of the net.
Just two minutes later, the Tornado was not done scoring. Smith ripped a shot that ricocheted straight down off the crossbar just past the goal line; her seventh goal of the season.
The shots continued to come for both the Tornado and Crusaders but nothing would result in a goal. In the 89th minute Smith hit another rocket at net that hit flush off the post. This brought us to the final whistle and King earned a win over preseason favorite Belmont Abbey 3-1.
King outshot Belmont Abbey 21-9 and tallied six corner kicks to the Crusaders four. Drake recorded the first win of her career after recording two saves.
The Tornado host North Greenville University on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Parks Field
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