LAURINBURG, N.C.—Junior Crystal Olu-Taylor (Raleigh, N.C.) had two goals and two assists to lead the St. Andrews Presbyterian College women’s soccer team to their fourth straight victory on Monday, defeating Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference rival Coker College 6-4.
After winning their fourth straight contest, the Lady Knights evened their overall record at 7-7 and improved their CVAC mark to 3-5. The Lady Cobras fell to 3-9 overall and 1-6 in the league.
St. Andrews jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead in the first 14 minutes of the game. Freshman Carrie Jones (Spring Hope, N.C.) wasted no time finishing off an Olu-Taylor pass just 2:02 into regulation. Five minutes later in the 8th minute Olu-Taylor ripped her first goal of the game. Sophomore Rachel Hanna (Concord, N.H.) capped the run in the 14th minute on another Olu-Taylor pass.
Trailing by three, Coker kept working hard and scored the final to goals of the first half to cut the deficit to 3-2 at halftime. Senior Megan Shaver (Athens, Tenn.) started the Lady Cobras scoring in the 20th minute on a junior Stephanie Foster (Stone Mountain, Ga.) assist. Just before the intermission freshman Bridget Clark (Irmo, S.C.) finished off a sophomore Laura Bedenbaugh (Hartsville, S.C.) pass in the 43rd minute.
After the break, Shaver completed a hat trick with two more goals to catapult Coker into a 4-3 lead. Shaver scored her second in the 53rd minute on another Foster assist. Shaver then added her team-high 10th goal of the season in the 66th minute.
However, after four unanswered goals St. Andrews fought back with the final three tallies to take the 6-4 victory. Olu-Taylor had the tying goal in the 68th minute before a Coker own-goal gave SAPC the lead for good in the 73rd minute. Freshman Kiersten Durst (Cary, N.C.) added an insurance goal in the 87th minute by one-timing a junior Meghan McAuliffe (Poway, Calif.) corner kick into the back of the Cobra net.
Coker had a 21-17 shot advantage but sophomore Garrison Burton (Atlanta, Ga.) made six of her game-high nine saves in the second half to preserve the victory. Freshman netminder Krista Coleman (Columbia, S.C.) made seven stops for the visitors.
Olu-Taylor’s six point day increased her team-high total to six goals and 14 points.
The Lady Knights visit CVAC foe Barton College on Wednesday in Wilson, N.C. at 5:00 p.m. while the Lady Cobras travel to Misenheimer, N.C. for a CVAC tilt against Pfeiffer University on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m.