BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.- The Gardner-Webb women's soccer team played to a scoreless draw with Wofford in the team's home opener on Friday evening at Greene-Harbison stadium.
Despite neither team scoring a goal, the match featured plenty of offense as the two squad's combined for 39 shots and nine corner kicks. Hayley Younginer had a game-high five shots, three of which she put on goal for the Terriers, while
Justine Ibarra and
Shelby Hooe each had four shots to lead the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Hooe generated scoring chances all evening long, putting all four of her shots on goal, but was unable to get a shot past Alex Carroll, who was excellent in goal for the Terriers, recording 10 saves in her first shutout of the season.
Keely Brown was up to the task for the Runnin' Bulldogs making seven saves to earn her first career shutout.
Early on in the first half, Gardner-Webb controlled the majority of the possession and generated a fantastic scoring opportunity in the 10
th minute. Hooe dribbled the ball down the left hand flank into the box and crossed the ball into
Samuelle Grove, who had an open net, but couldn't get a great touch as she put the ball just over the cross bar.
The best scoring chance of the game came in the 21st minute when GWU was fouled by Wofford in the 18-yard box resulting in the first penalty kick opportunity for Gardner-Webb. Hooe took the PK and fired a shot towards the left side of the net, but Carroll ranged to her left to make a fantastic save and keep the game scoreless.
The Runnin' Bulldogs outshot Wofford 10-5 in the opening half and Caroll recorded six of her ten saves, as both teams would head into the halftime break tied at zero.
Wofford had a great scoring opportunity to open the second period when Caroline Boone put a curling shot on goal from just inside the box, which curled away from Brown, but fortunately for Gardner-Webb, her shot smacked the cross-bar and stayed out of the net to preserve the tie.
Caroll came up huge for Wofford in the final five minute of regulation recording two great saves on strikes from Hooe and
Hannah Watkins that both resulted from failed clearing attempts from the Terriers.
The two sides combined for seven shots in the two overtime periods, but neither side was able to notch a shot in the scoring column as the game would end in a 0-0 draw.
Gardner-Webb will look to build off of the momentum in its next game Sunday, when it hosts USC-Upstate at 7:00 p.m. in Greene-Harbison Stadium.
