CORPUS CHRISTI – Jacey Love and Alyssa Miller each scored in the first 12 minutes to lift the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's soccer team to a 2-0 win over Central Arkansas on Friday night at the Dugan Family Soccer and Track Stadium. Megan Delaney made seven saves for her fourth shutout of the season.
With the win, the Islanders improved to 2-4-2 overall and 1-2-0 in Southland Conference play, while UCA is now 4-4-0 and 0-1-0 in the league.
"I'm really excited and happy for the team," head coach Shanna Caldwell said. "They worked hard for this win. We talked about playing for each other and working together and they did that for 90 minutes tonight. Because of that we came away with the positive three-point result.
"Jacey scored her first goal and it lifted us to another level, and then Miller was able to convert and give us that two-goal lead," she added. "It can be a dangerous lead to have and we were able to weather the storm and keep the shutout. We had some great individual efforts and as a team. I'm really proud of the team and hoping we carry this energy into next week at McNeese."
Love potted the first Islanders goal, finishing off a wild sequence for her first career score. Sara Chandlee sent a corner kick into the box, and Aulona Velaj got a shot on frame that the Bears cleared off the back line. But the ball caromed right to Love on the far side, and she sent it into the lower left corner to make it 1-0 at 3:11 to give the home squad the lead.
Miller added to the advantage in the 12th minute. Velaj again was the catalyst, taking the ball near midfield and sending a nice ball forward to Miller. The senior took one touch forward then lunged and delivered a strike past the diving keeper and into the lower left corner for a 2-0 lead. The goal, at 11:23, marked Miller's first of the season and fourth of her career.
The score continued that way into the closing minutes of the opening half, when a lightning delay halted play with just over eight minutes remaining in the frame. After the stoppage, the teams saw no scoring and headed to the locker room with the score remaining 2-0.
Out of the locker room, the Islanders continued the momentum early, earning a corner that resulted in a blocked shot to keep the score 2-0. But after that, Central Arkansas took control of possession, delivering several chances but none of those finding their way on frame. The strangest of those came when a free kick was awarded just outside the six-yard box on a handball assessed to Delaney. But Love made a nice play to clear it off the back line and keep the Islanders ahead by two.
But after that opportunity, the Islanders kept the ball near midfield for the remainder of the contest, and emerged with their first league victory of the season.
The Islanders will be back in action next Friday when they head to Lake Charles, La., for a matchup with McNeese State. The contest will kick off at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3 on Cowgirl Field. Updates will be provided on the team's official Twitter feed (@IslandersSoccer).
