Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The underclassmen on the Barton College women's soccer team brought the gifts on Senior Night, scoring most of the goals in a 3-0 non-conference victory over visiting Chowan University Wednesday at the Barton Outdoor Athletics Complex.
Sophomore Grace Fehan and freshman Lane Brooks joined junior Emily Futral in providing the goals on an evening in which seven seniors – Brianna Briggs, Amber Brush, Kasey Byzewski, Adrianna Jimenez, Carson Moore, Meredith Sharp and Nicole Smith – were honored for their many contributions to the women's soccer program.
All of the seniors received significant playing time in a match that saw the Lady Bulldogs take 44 shots to just two for Chowan.
Moore, making her 57th career start in goal, stopped both attempts by the Hawks (1-13) to record her seventh shutout of the season. She lowered her season goals against average – which was already 11th nationally coming into the match – down to 0.35 for the year.
The victory was Barton's second in four days over the Hawks – both by 3-0 margins – and its third straight win overall. The Lady Bulldogs, now 9-3-2 on the season, have not lost in their last five matches, going 4-0-1 over that span.
Barton, which was held scoreless in the first half of Sunday's meeting with Chowan, got on the board early this time, getting a goal in the 14th minute when Fehan put away the rebound following an attempt by Smith. The goal was the third of the year for Fehan, and the assist was Smith's fourth of 2014.
The Lady Bulldogs took a total of 27 first-half shots and had an incredible 17 corner kicks in the opening frame, but still went to intermission holding a slim 1-0 advantage.
Chowan keeper Marissa Ghani, who came into the contest ranked third nationally in total saves with 134, added 13 more to her total in the first half alone to keep the match close.
Barton added an insurance goal just over six minutes into the second half when Futral put a loose ball in the box into the upper left corner of the net for her fourth goal of the year and fourth career goal against the Hawks.
Fifteen minutes later, Futral collected her second assist of the season, launching a long pass from midfield to Lane for a breakaway. Lane, Barton's leading scorer, put the ball away just before tumbling over a diving Ghani to collect her seventh goal of the year.
Ghani added five saves to her first-half total to finish the evening with 18, a season-high for the junior college transfer.
Barton will return to Conference Carolinas play on Saturday, when it hosts a 1 p.m. Homecoming match against Lees-McRae College, with whom the Lady Bulldogs are tied for fifth place in the league standings.
