BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb women's soccer team scored its first Big South win of the 2025 season on Wednesday night at Greene-Harbison Stadium, with graduate forward Annie Slovak tallying the late winner in a 1-0 final over Presbyterian

Wednesday night's game featured no shortage of shots and chances but it would take just one to make the difference, with Slovak scoring the winning goal in the 79th minute after a brilliant solo effort near the edge of the box. The Runnin' Bulldogs finished with a 19-16 edge in shots, including 14-7 after halftime.

Both goalkeepers would be called into action early and often, with Presbyterian goalkeeper Febe Dombrecht turning away 10 Gardner-Webb shots, while senior goalkeeper Savannah Dixon matched with seven on her way to a clean sheet and a victory. No save from Dixon was bigger than in the 78th minute, when Presbyterian attacker Lindsey Malyszek was turned away at near point-blank range. Gardner-Webb found the back of the net for the game's only goal just 57 seconds after Dixon's save.

For the match-winner, Gardner-Webb broke to the other end of the pitch immediately after Dixon's big save. Slovak had Runnin' Bulldogs to her left and right but decided to go alone and sent a looping shot into the upper-left corner. With the finish, Slovak scored her first goal in red and black, her first of the season, and would eventually hand GWU the points in the standings.
 
The Gardner-Webb defense stepped up in a big way, allowing only one shot of any kind in the 11 minutes remaining following the goal. At the back, sophomore defender Tanner Michael, freshman defender Sarah Birchall and redshirt junior defender Peyton Bryant all stuck in for the full 90 minute contest, the GWU held on for the win.

FROM HEAD COACH ERIK SOLBERG
Really proud of the team. Total team effort to keep our first shutout of the season and get a really timely goal from a player that has created so many opportunities for us. To see her finally score a really big goal is awesome. I couldn't be more proud of our team. We know we have to get points at home in the league, and so to come away with three points, I thought was really well deserved. I loved our team's effort in the second half and thought we were really resilient. Hopefully we can kick on from here.

FROM GRADUATE FORWARD ANNIE SLOVAK
I think we played a really consistent game. We had great energy in the first half, we were winning tackles, and I think we carried that energy really well into the second half. We had a decent amount of shots, and thankfully we were finally able to put one away. All praise to God.

UP NEXT
The Runnin' Bulldogs take the weekend off before hosting Winthrop on October 1st at 6 pm in another Big South Conference conest