WILMINGTON, N.C. – The UNCW women's soccer team continued its unbeaten start to the season Thursday, playing Virginia Commonwealth University to a 1-1 draw at UNCW Soccer Stadium behind an early goal from
Hailey Longwell.
"We created some great scoring opportunities but unfortunately did not capitalize", said head coach
Chris Neal. "Give their goalkeepers a lot of credit; we forced some big point-blank saves. We have to continue to invest our training time into creating and finishing our chances and tightening up things defensively. "
The forward duo of Longwell and
Caigan Leonard put the Seahawks on the board in the opening 10 minutes of the match, with Longwell finding the back of the net to give UNCW (3-0-2) an early 1-0 advantage. VCU (0-4-1) answered in the 24th minute to even the score, and the teams entered halftime tied at 1-1.
UNCW generated 23 shots throughout the match, half of which were on goal, led by Longwell with six,
Kamrey Watkins with five and Leonard with two. The Seahawks also held a significant advantage in shots over the Rams, who finished with five attempts.
The UNCW defense, anchored by
Ava Chuderewicz,
Rachel Fry,
Macy Lutz and
Alyssa Chuderewicz, held VCU to five shots while helping the Seahawks maintain the 1-1 score through the final whistle.
The Seahawks return to UNCW Soccer Stadium Wednesday, Sept. 3, to host East Carolina at 7 p.m. The match will be available to stream on FloCollege.
