PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (Women's Soccer) – Jenny Campbell (SO/Chillicothe, Ohio) found Schuyler Jones (SR/Ramnicu Valcea, Romania) with less than a second left in the opening period, leading to a beautiful redirection off the head of Jones and the first score of the contest, and Campbell added a goal of her own as the Shawnee State women's soccer team defeated Cincinnati Christian University, 2-0, in a nonconference bout on Wednesday at Shawnee Turf.
"It's nice to get back on track," head coach Rob Appell said. "We were able to clean up a couple of things from this past weekend. We got two very timely goals in this one. The first one at the end of the half really gave us the momentum heading into the break"
Despite six shots and three on frame in the opening frame, Shawnee State was unable to find the back of the net, setting up what looked like nothing less than a clean first half and a second half battle locked at zero. However, with time slipping away, Campbell found space down the right side and lifted a through ball which found Jones behind the defense.
The senior took full advantage with a nifty flick of her head, making solid contact to redirect the ball away from the CCU keeper Kendra Steepe and into the net with just .6 seconds showing on the scoreboard, sending the Bears into the locker room with a 1-0 advantage.
The Eagles began to press for an equalizer early and often in the second half, pushing eight attempts on goal. Four of those found the frame, but SSU keeper Michaela Garner (FR/Heath, Ohio) stymied each attempt, leading to four of her seven saves in the match.
The best chance came in the 64th minute, when CCU's Michaelah Sargent found herself one-on-one with Garner. With the two barreling toward each other, Sargent made contact on a sliding shot, however Garner slid, as well, deflecting the shot away from the goal to maintain the clean sheet.
In the 77th minute, Campbell played add-on. The sophomore found space on the left side with a nice touch to her right to beat an oncoming defender. Campbell found herself in plenty of space just inside the box. Her shot sailed upper 90 at the near post and the Bears led, 2-0.
"A second goal near the middle of the half can really give you 10 or 15 more minutes in your legs," Appell said. "We may have been getting a little tired there heading into the closing minutes, and Jenny was able to put a little resurgence back in our step. It helped us both mentally and physically."
Following the insurance goal, the Eagles recorded three more shots, including a pair knocked away by defender Mara McGee (SO/Baltimore, Ohio) and the seventh and final save from Garner on an 85th minute attempt.
The freshman keeper was strong both at the line and coming off, en route to her third clean sheet of her inaugural campaign. It marked her first since Aug. 22, the second match of the season.
"There are several things we still need to improve on," Appell said. "Sometimes it can be difficult to step out of conference in the mid-week. We came out and did enough to get a good win. If we can continue to get better each day, we will be just fine heading into an important conference match on Saturday."
The Bears return to action on the road over the weekend, traveling to the University of Pikeville for their first Mid-South Conference road match of the season. Kick-off is slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday.
