Box Score by Benny Benton
MURFREESBORO, N.C. – Barton College senior Emily Futral continued her torrid play of late by scoring both goals in a 2-0 road shutout of Chowan University on Tuesday.
The Richlands, N.C., native and two-time all-region selection scored for the fourth match in a row and recorded multiple goals for the second straight outing. She has seven goals and 18 total points on the season, all coming in the last six matches.
Barton (5-2-2) held the Hawks (1-9) without a shot on goal and just three total attempts while taking 48, the most shots by the Lady Bulldogs in a match in at least five seasons.
BC dominated from the very beginning. Senior Ashley Batchelor hit the right post on an attempt just under three minutes into the contest, and Futral had a point-blank shot off a corner kick thwarted by Chowan keeper Marissa Ghani 4:02 into play.
Just over a minute later, Futral got another chance to finish off a corner kick by Lane Brooks, and this time she used a header to drive the ball past Ghani and into the right corner net at the 5:26 mark.
Despite all its opportunities, Barton did not score the rest of the period, as many sailed high or wide. Others were stopped by Ghani, who collected nine of her 13 saves in the contest during the opening half.
That changed just 16 seconds into the second period, however. Batchelor raced to make a steal deep in the Chowan half in front of the net, then touched the ball back to Futral on the left wing. Futral delivered a perfectly placed shot between the leaping Ghani and the crossbar, just inside the left post, to extend Barton's lead.
Kelsey Rothwell, Barton's starting goalkeeper for the year's first eight matches, played in the field late in the contest and netted what would have been her first collegiate goal with 2:12 left in the match, but the score was wiped off the board by an offside call.
Sophomore Haley Sauls received the start in net against the Hawks and was the keeper of record, running her season record to 2-0. Junior Allison Bell worked the second half, but neither keeper faced a shot on goal.
Barton has now won three matches in a row and is unbeaten in its last four outings. The Lady Bulldogs hope to extend those marks on Saturday when they host Conference Carolinas foe King University in a 2 p.m. contest at the Barton Outdoor Athletic Complex.
