By Dan Stillwell
It took Mountain State University 70 minutes to realize it could play with Asbury College.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, by that time the damage was done.
Asbury scored twice in the first 29 minutes — and could have scored more — before holding back a late MSU charge to win 2-1 Saturday at Paul Cline Stadium.
“We were all nervous, including the coaches,” coach Kelly Borck said. “We didn’t play like we’d played in the last few games.”
In only their second year of varsity play, the Cougars were playing the Eagles for the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
Not only the title, but an unbeaten conference record was on the line for both teams.
MSU (now 3-1 KIAC, 7-5-1 overall) came out flat while Asbury (3-0, 8-6-1) dominated play from the outset.
The Eagles should have led 1-0 in the eighth minute when Katie Crocker made a breakaway and went 1-on-1 against sophomore goalkeeper Christina Baker.
Crocker had an easy shot, but fired wide to the right of the goal.
But a minute later the Cougars weren’t so lucky as Jessica Young worked into the penalty area and fired past Baker for a 1-0 lead.
“They had some beautiful one-touch combinations early and put us back on our heels,” Borck said. “We haven’t played a team that has been as physical and could win the 50-50 balls with such dominance.”
Asbury kept coming, but either shot off-target or was thwarted by last-ditch MSU plays, often by sophomore defender Jessica Hupp.
“We should have finished a lot better,” Asbury coach Paul Nessleroade said. “We should have put the game away.”
Baker, last season’s all-KIAC keeper, made three saves over a 10-minute period, including a grab at point-blank range of a shot by Crocker.
But in the 29th minute, Crocker got her goal, working in close again and this time firing low and away from Baker.
The Eagles’ attack cooled after the halftime break, but they still had chances. The KIAC’s second-leading scorer, Miranda Wiley (11 goals), was stopped by a diving Baker on one play and had another probable goal blocked by a hustling Hupp.
Finally, MSU began to string passes together and put pressure on Asbury.
The Cougars made things interesting on three corner kicks and then found paydirt in the 72nd minute when freshman forward Brittany Nelson lofted a direct kick from 25 yards over keeper Maegan Rogers.
Asbury answered with three shots, all stopped by Baker. Undaunted, MSU forced three more corner kicks, but could not take advantage of them.
The Eagles held an 10-1 edge in shots on goals. Baker finished with eight saves.
“We’re thankful for the win, but we’re not happy about our play,” said Nessleroade, whose team was coming off a 1-1 double-overtime draw Friday against Milligan College.
MSU has two non-conference games remaining before entering the KIAC tournament Nov. 7-8 at East River Stadium in Bluefield.
“Today was disappointing, but the good thing is we can get Asbury again,” said MSU forward Erica Alderman, the KIAC’s leading scorer with 15 goals. “We’re all going to work harder in the tournament.”
— E-mail:
dstillwell@registerherald.com
