Oct. 3, 2014

Final Stats

The University of Cincinnati women's soccer team shutout conference newcomer East Carolina, 3-0, on the road Friday night. The Bearcats' victory gives them eight wins on the year, which matches last season's total.

UC (8-3-2, 2-1-0 American) jumped on the Pirates (7-4-1, 1-2-0 American) midway through the first half with a pair of goals from freshmen Julie Gavorski and Vanessa Gilles.

Another goal was added in the second half by another Cincinnati newcomer in sophomore transfer Taylor Jackson.

Redshirt sophomore Natalie Smith recorded her fourth individual shutout of the season. She garnered four saves with ECU only taking six shots.

CIN - Julie Gavorski (Jaycie Brown), 32^nd
Brown slipped a pass to Gavorski through the defense, and the freshman chipped a shot over keeper for the goal. CIN 1, ECU 0

CIN - Vanessa Gilles (Devyn Ciotti), 39^th
Ciotti bent in a corner kick, and Gilles rose above the rest to head home the goal. CIN 2, ECU 0

CIN - Taylor Jackson (Jae Atkinson), 69^th
After Atkinson took the corner, the ball was cleared back out to her on the wing. The senior's service went into the box and found Jackson's foot for a one-timer into the top, center of the goal. CIN 3, ECU 0

STAFFORD's STANCE
“I’m really proud of our team’s resilience after tonight’s performance,” said head coach Neil Stafford. “We traveled nearly 12 hours yesterday, and we came out and executed at a high level. Our forwards had a great work rate and kept grinding for us, which helped generate our offensive opportunities. I’m really proud of Julie Gavorski on how she played and impacted the game immediately coming off the bench and scoring a goal for us. I think tonight’s result speaks volumes about our program.”

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT - JULIE GAVORSKI
“Before I got into the match Coach Stafford told me to push myself and keep pressure on the defense because they were tired from our first shift of forwards,” said Julie Gavorski. “On my goal, I dropped a pass off to Jaycie [Brown] and decided to make a run for it. She gave me a nice ball with the defense keying on her, and I was able to find the back of the net.”

MATCH NOTES
- Cincinnati's win improves their series record to 4-1-1 all-time. Friday's match is the first time that the score has been decided by more than one goal.
- The Bearcats have matched last season's win total of eight in just 13 matches. It is only the fifth time UC has reached eight wins since 2002, and it is the fastest for the program since 2002 (10).
- Atkinson recorded her ninth assist of the season and is now tied for sixth in UC history with Lori Wallace (1989).

NEXT MATCH
The Bearcats take off the remainder of the weekend before hitting the road again to face Memphis on Thursday, Oct. 9 and Tulsa on Sunday, Oct. 12.