BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — On Senior Night for WKU Soccer (7-8-3, 4-5-1 C-USA), the seniors delivered. The Lady Toppers earned a 1-0 win against Charlotte (3-10-4, 2-6-2 C-USA) behind a late goal from senior
Lyric Schmidt and a shutout from a pair of senior goalkeepers in
Alexis Bach and
Ashley Kobylinski and a senior-heavy backline.
"Charlotte is a really good team and we knew we were going to have our hands full," said head coach
Jason Neidell. "I thought we came out really strong in the first 20 minutes, but the second part of the first half I don't think we were very happy with and we weren't very clean technically. I thought we came out in the second half with some urgency. We were aggressive in the attack and made some good things happen."
It was a scoreless match for the first 86 minutes, but WKU had put the pressure on Charlotte in the second half. After mounting momentum, the Lady Toppers finally broke through in the 86th minute. WKU was awarded a corner kick.
Katie Erwin took the kick and quickly realized that Schmidt was unmarked. Schmidt one-touched it for a long, arching shot that went right over the reach of the Charlotte goalkeeper into the upper left corner of the net.
The goal was reminiscent of WKU's win over Charlotte in the spring of 2021 when Schmidt took a free kick in the 90th minute and found Erwin for the game-winning goal.
It was the first goal of the season for Schmidt and her second career goal. It was Erwin's fourth assist of the year, which leads the team.
It was the eighth shutout of the season for WKU this season. It brings the Lady Toppers' goals against average to 0.67 for the year, which currently ranks as the second best average in program history and is the top mark in C-USA.
Bach played the first 62:32 in goal for the Lady Toppers, making two saves. Kobylinski came in for her and made a save in the match and held on to the shutout.
The Lady Toppers concluded the home portion of the schedule having given up only two total goals on their home turf.
The win secures a seven seed for WKU in the Conference USA Championship. The Lady Toppers will face the No. 2 seed, which will be determined on Saturday. The first round of the tournament is Wednesday, Nov. 2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Game times and the official bracket will be release Saturday night.
Nine seniors were celebrated following the match during a Senior Day ceremony. Bach,
Ansley Cate, Erwin,
Kendall King, Kobylinski,
Lucy Lyon,
Afton Schraml and
Emily Speidel were all honored during the ceremony.
"I can't say enough about this senior class," said Neidell. "They've been incredible on the field, they've been even more awesome off the field. They've been a joy to be around and a joy to coach."
How to follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on WKU Soccer, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program via social media @WKU_Soccer on Twitter and Instagram and
@WKUSoccer on Facebook.
