BOILING SPRINGS — Coastal Carolina outscored Gardner-Webb by a 9-2 margin in the first half, and held off a late push by the Runnin' Bulldogs en route to a 16-7 Big South Conference victory in Spangler Stadium on Saturday evening.
Coastal Carolina (7-5, 3-2 Big South) outshot Gardner-Webb (3-10, 1-4 Big South), 32-14, in the contest while converting 14-of-16 clears and controlling 16-of-25 draws. The Chanticleers edged the Runnin' Bulldogs by a 25-17 margin in ground balls as Gardner-Webb converted 10-of-14 clear attempts and forced 12 Coastal Carolina turnovers.
Sadie Bryant (Charlottesville, Va.) paced the Runnin' Bulldogs with three goals to push her season total to 13, as Alex Fusco (Marietta, Ga.) added two strikes for her team-leading 26th and 27th tallies of the campaign. Emma Rufolo (Woodstock, Md.) and Amanda Steinmuller (Elliott, Md.) each struck for one goal, while Monique Martin (Tyngsborough, Mass.) led the way for GWU with five ground balls and four caused turnovers.
Rufolo chipped in four draw controls as Cassidy McDowell (Cincinnati, Ohio) made 10 saves between the pipes.
Coastal Carolina's Sara Nolan led all scorers with eight goals and one assist, while Haley Alexander, Charlotte O'Leary and Courtney Genovese each accounted for two goals. Sophie Crowther dished out two assists, as Sara Nolan tallied a game-high seven draw controls. Jenna Stover and Harley Barrett combined for six saves.
Steinmuller opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game, striking for her 19th goals of the season at the 27:23 mark of the first half to give Gardner-Webb an early 1-0 lead. Coastal would answer with three straight tallies over the next 11 minutes to take a 3-1 advantage through Nolan's second of the night with 16:37 on the clock.
Fusco got one back for Gardner-Webb three and a half minutes later, pulling the Runnin' Bulldogs within one at 3-2 before the Chanticleers closed the first half with six goals to take a 9-2 lead into the break.
The teams would trade two goal spurts over the first 17 minutes of the second half, with Bryant scoring a pair at the 22:26 and 17:08 marks to cut the Chanticleer lead to 11-4. Strikes from Crowther and Genovese would push the margin back to nine at 13-4 before Bryant completed her second hat trick of the season on a free position strike with 7:45 to play.
Fusco and Rufolo kept the Runnin' Bulldogs within striking distance moments later, answering a Genovese tally with back-to-back goals to cut the lead to 14-7 with 5:27 left on the clock. Nolan would answer with two strikes of her own in the final four minutes to cap the scoring and close out the victory for Coastal.
Gardner-Webb will host Winthrop (13-2, 4-0 Big South) in its final home game of the season on Wednesday, April 13 at 6:00 pm in Spangler Stadium. The Runnin' Bulldogs will honor their 2016 senior class prior to the opening draw as part of their Senior Night festivities.
