Wilmington, NC - The Cape Fear women's soccer team maintained their undefeated record, beating conference opponent Louisburg College 2-0.
The women had a solid opportunity to score in the 3rd minute, after Jenna Pecorini's shot was mishandled by the Louisburg goalkeeper, leaving a chance in front of goal for Alyssa Coustenis. However, the keeper would quickly recover and prevent Coustenis from scoring.
The Sea Devils would break through in the 15th minute, as Coustenis would gather a deflected shot and slip it past the keeper. Sierra Raynor assisted on the goal, her 7th in five games.
For the first part of the half, Louisburg would attempt to create chances offensively, but aside from a free kick that would sail just over the top of the goal, none of it would develop into anything dangerous. Their confidence would grow as the half wore on however, making it increasingly difficult for Cape Fear to gain a significant advantage.
During the final minutes of the first half, Cape Fear would push more into Louisburg's final third, but would be unable to create a good chance with their final ball.
The half would end with the Sea Devils up 1-0. They registered five shots on goal, while Louisburg only managed one.
Louisburg would come out aggressive to start the second half, pressuring Cape Fear in their own half.
A breakaway chance for the Sea Devils would come in the 51st minute, when Coustenis would find herself through on goal. Before she could take a shot however, the Louisburg defender would make a clean tackle, forcing the ball out for a corner.
Another chance would develop in the 54th minute, as Annis would play a ball out wide left to Pecorini, whose shot would be saved by the keeper.
By this point, the Sea Devils looked the more dominant side. They created a number of scoring opportunities, and were prevented only by strong goalkeeping, or by a last ditch effort by the defender. Even so, the momentum had swung, and it became a matter of when, rather than if, Cape Fear would score their second goal.
That second goal almost came in the 66th minute, after a cross by Coustenis fell to Raynor who was open in front of goal, but she would send her shot high. The Sea Devils would get a few more near goal scoring chances in the next couple of minutes, but they would come up short.
The second goal would finally come in the 76th minute, as Coustenis would take a rebounded shot by Raynor, and strike the ball past the keeper for her second goal of the game, and sixth of the season.
Afterwards, Coustenis credited her teammates for her performance. "It felt awesome to help my team win, but it was all of my team working together."
By this point, the game became firmly in Cape Fear's control. The Sea Devils had a few chances to score a third, but would come up short.
After the game, head coach Ryan Deppa had nothing but praise for his team, who are now 5-0 to start the season. "I'm so impressed. Five games, five shutouts, and for a team to stick together for five games doing that is absolutely amazing to me. I'm really happy with the pride they've taken defending with each other."
The Sea Devils play next on the road this Friday, September 16th against Wake Tech Community College at 1:30 p.m.
Courtesy of Nick Denning
