Women's Soccer Moves to 5-2-0 After Downing EKU on Sunday

Sunday, September 13

Cincinnati, Ohio

1 P.M.

Xavier University

5-2-0

Eastern Kentucky

0-7-0

Eastern Kentucky

Xavier

Photo by: Bob Stevens

Women's Soccer Moves to 5-2-0 After Downing EKU on Sunday

09.13.15 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – A pair of Musketeers knocked in the first goals of their college careers as the Xavier women's soccer team defeated Eastern Kentucky, 4-0, on Sunday at XU Soccer Complex.

Freshman Kylie Hohlt scored the game winner less than three minutes into the match after senior Catherine Allon played the ball into the six yard box. Hohlt finished just in front of the keeper to give the Musketeers the 1-0 advantage.

Jessica Miller, also in her freshman season at XU, added a pair of insurance goals in the first half, her first tallies as a Musketeer. Freshman Samantha Dewey played the ball deep into the box and Miller finished with a header from the left side to give Xavier the 2-0 lead at the 37 minute mark.

Miller didn't wait long for the second goal of her Xavier career, scoring again less than four minutes later. Miller played the ball to senior Erin McGauley in the right side of the box. McGauley returned the ball to Miller, who finished from the right side to give the Musketeers the three-goal lead.

Just before the half, the last score of the game came on an own-goal from the Colonels, setting the score at 4-0 in favor of the Musketeers.

Xavier has totaled 11 goals in the last three matches, bringing the season total to 20, doubling last season's total through just seven matches. Nine different players have scored for the Musketeers.

"It's coming from different people, which is great because it's harder to defend when it's not just one or two people getting all of your goals," said Woody Sherwood of the Xavier offense after the game. "We went through a lot last year, trying to the pieces right, and really couldn't. We spent a ton of time in the offseason on building balls more successfully from the back third, the middle third and the final third to give us chances to score, and we've certainly done that this year so far."

The Xavier defense posted a clean sheet for the third straight game, with junior goalkeeper Rachel Piccus collecting five saves in her fifth win of the season. Freshman Libby Grace subbed in for Piccus in the second half, preserving the Musketeers' fourth shutout of the season.

"Our goal is to have six kids that can play on the backline in one game, considering how much we ask our outside backs to run," said Sherwood. "The center backs who primarily play there (Courtney Kobashigawa, Carly Alfano, Maria Libertin) have done nice job and Rachel Piccus is a big part of that too. Rachel plays bigger than she is and this weekend she had a couple of big saves in both game and helped keep us in a good position."

Next up, Xavier hosts a pair of in-state rivals, Ohio and Cincinnati, next weekend in the final two game before starting BIG EAST play. Ohio is first up for the Musketeers, visiting the XU Soccer Complex on Friday, Sept. 18 with first kick set for 6:30 p.m. Live stats will be available through GoXavier.com.