Women's Soccer Defeats Mount Olive 3-1 In Conference Carolinas Tournament Quarterfinal

Belmont Abbey sophomore Rebecca Mateo scored in the first half, and Amanda Maddock and Connie Axiotis provided goals in the second half as the top-seeded Crusaders women's soccer team earned a 3-1 win over the eighth-seeded Mount Olive Trojans this afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 Conference Carolinas Tournament. The Abbey, which has never lost to Mount Olive in women's soccer, improves its record to 13-0-1 in quarterfinal tournament matches all time as its 2009 record improves to 12-5. Mount Olive ends its season with a mark of 6-10-4.

Mount Olive took the first shot of the game that was saved by Kelsey Lovell, but the Abbey would record the next 11 straight as Mateo put the Crusaders ahead 1-0 in the 29th minute. Celene Molera gathered the ball deep in the Trojans end and left a pass ahead of Mateo, who sprinted in from 10 yards and fired a shot past Lyndsey McIntyre for the goal.

That was all of the scoring until the 58th minute when Maddock buried a penalty kick after a Mount Olive defender slipped on the wet grass and broke her fall on the ball in the penalty area.

18 minutes later, Axiotis made it 3-0 when she fired home a rebound off of McIntyre when her first shot was blocked right back into her.

Mount Olive made it a game in the 80th minute as Jessica Smoot sent a through ball to Tia Rose, whose shot from the left box beat Lovell for the goal.

Belmont Abbey outshot the Trojans 12-2 and held an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks. Lovell made one save, while McIntyre collected six.