BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.- Brandi Arey netted two goals and Keely Brown pitched her third shutout of the season to lead the Gardner-Webb women's soccer team to a 4-0 victory on Sunday afternoon at Greene-Harbison Stadium.
The four goals by Gardner-Webb was a season-high and improves its record to 3-0-2 in home matches this season, while Brown made four saves to lower her goals-against-average at Greene-Harbison Stadium to a stellar 0.18.
"We really relaxed and played well after our first goal. Shelby (Hooe) made a great run to put pressure on their back line which created the foul, and Brandi stepped up with a lot of confidence and put the PK away," commented Gardner-Webb women's soccer head coach Mike Varga.
At the conclusion of the match, five Runnin' Bulldogs were selected to the Under Armour Classic All-Tournament Team, highlighted by Shelby Hooe and Bri Nagle, who were named the Offensive and Defensive MVP's respetively. Brittany DeLoach, Bailey Hierholzer, and Arey also garnered All-Tournament selections for Gardner-Webb.
Additionally in the victory, Samuelle Grove scored her first collegiate goal, while Maggie Mae Everett and Sara Odembo each picked up their first career assist.
Offensively, the Runnin' Bulldogs played one of their most complete games this season on both the offensive and defensive ends, as they limited VMI to just one shot attempt in the second half, while punishing the Keydet goal frame to the tune of 17 shots.
"We played very well in the second half and scored a couple nice goals. I was happy that we kept our level high and were able to get minutes for a lot of players."
Playing its second match of the weekend, Gardner-Webb posessed the ball for much of the game in the offensive zone, as it outshot VMI 25-6 and held a 12-2 advantage in corner kick opportunities.
Brown made her best save of the afternoon in the 19th minute, when Taylor Callahan received a pass behind the GWU defenders, leaving her one-on-one with Brown, but the freshman goalkeeper came up with the huge save to keep the Keydets off the scoreboard.
In the 31st minute, the Runnin' Bulldogs were close to scoring the game's first goal, when DeLoach got her head to a ball that was served into the box off a corner kick from Hooe, but the freshman's attempt narrowly missed the post.
After the ensing goal kick, the Runnin' Bulldogs put together a few quick passes together with the ball ending up at Hooe's feet, and the senior sprinted past the VMI defense en route to goal, but was taken down in the 18-yard box, resulting in a penalty kick opportunity for the Dogs.
Arey was chosen to take the attempt for GWU, and the junior captalized burying her shot to the left side of the net for the game's first goal.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, it looked as if the game would remain 1-0 at half, but that would change when Everett put a left-footed chip into the box to Sydney David, who vollied it into the net off the bounce to push the GWU lead to 2-0, heading into halftime.
Midway through the second half, the Runnin' Bulldogs continued to build the offensive attack and it paid off in the 64th minute. Samuelle Grove put on an impressive offensive display, dribbling the ball around the diving VMI goalkeeper and passed the ball into the empty net.
Holding a 3-0 lead, Gardner-Webb played many of its substiutes, but to its credit, the effort and scoring chances did not diminish. The Runnin' Bulldogs continued to press and after putting a number of passes together, Odembo gave a great pass to Arey at the top of the box, who turned on a dime and fired a shot at goal which beat Dunham to her left side, as GWU went on for the 4-0 shutout over VMI.
"This is a very encouraging result as we head into our last non-conference match and then into conference play."
Gardner-Webb puts its two-game win streak on the line Friday, when it hosts Elon at 7:00 p.m. in Greene-Harbison Stadium.
Under Armour Classic All-Tournament Team
Offensive MVP- Shelby Hooe (GWU)
Defensive MVP- Bri Nagle (GWU)
Caroline Houser (UNCA)
Paige Trent (UNCA)
Payton McCollum (UTC)
Emily Moseley (UTC)
Alex Frank (VMI)
Taylor Callahan (VMI)
Brittany DeLoach (GWU)
Bailey Hierholzer (GWU)
Brandi Arey (GWU)
