BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.- Competing in its second game of the weekend, the Gardner-Webb women's soccer team played to a scoreless draw with Mercer in a non-conference match on Sunday afternoon at Greene-Harbison Stadium.
This was the third home match of the season for the Runnin' Bulldogs and all three of their games have been low scoring, with the Dogs playing to a 0-0 draw with Wofford in the home-opener and a 1-0 victory over USC Upstate last Sunday (8/30).
We didn't play with the same energy as we did Friday, but that is typical for a second match in less than 48 hours," remarked Gardner-Webb women's soccer head coach Mike Varga. "I felt like we played well in segments, but had too many unforced turnovers. Mercer is a quality program that is well coached and we played head to head with them."
Despite outshooting GWU 20-13 for the match, Mercer could not get a shot past Keely Brown, who recorded six saves to earn her third shutout of the season, all of which have come in the past four games.
Justine Ibarra, Shelby Hooe, and Brandi Arey each led the charge for the GWU with three shots each, while Katelyn Dimopoulous had a game-high five shots for Mercer.
In the first half, the best scoring chance for either team came in the 35th minute when Ibarra drilled a free-kick from 35 yards out, which smacked the cross bar, but stayed out of the goal.
Mercer outshot the Runnin' Bulldogs 9-5 in the first half, but Brown made three saves as the game remained scoreless after one period of action.
The Bears had a quality scoring opportunity with six minutes remaining in regulation, when Sydney Brogen had a strike from just outside of the box, that was headed towards the lower left hand corner of the net, but Brown dove to her left and pushed the ball over the end line for a Mercer corner kick.
Just before the end of regulation, Samantha Gutierrez had the ball in the offense end of the field for GWU, and she put a shot on goal, which deflected off Ashley Carmean's head, but Maggie Cropp ranged to her right to make the save and send the game into overtime.
Gardner-Webb and Mercer combined for six shots in the overtime periods, but the match would end in a scoreless draw.
The Runnin' Bulldogs return to action for the first of five straight home matches Friday, when they host Chatanooga at 7:00 p.m.
