DANVILLE, Va. – The 20th-ranked Washington and Lee women's soccer team defeated Averett, 4-0, on the road on Saturday for its sixth straight win and to remain undefeated this season.
The win improves the Generals to 12-0-4 overall and 7-0-1 in the ODAC, while the Cougars' loss drops them to 5-7-2 overall and 3-4-1 in conference play. The six straight wins for the Generals matches last season's longest winning streak, while the streak of 16 games without a loss this season is tied for the fourth longest undefeated run in program history.
The scoring was started in just the fifth minute when senior forward
Lindsay White (Greenville, S.C. / JL Mann) got a touch on the ball to put it over the goal line. The chance came on a corner kick taken by first-year midfielder
Bryn Bissinger (Greenville, S.C. / St. Joseph's Catholic), followed by a header from first-year midfielder
Sarah Zimmerman (Cincinnati, Ohio / Cincinnati Country Day) to White.
W&L then added two quick goals towards the end of the first half to pad its lead to three. The first came on a score by first-year
Sophie Berman (Robbinsville, N.J. / Robbinsville) in the 34th minute off a feed from senior forward
Sophia Roche' (Ashburn, Va. / Broad Run), followed by an unassisted score from sophomore forward
Sam Berish (Doylestown, Pa. / Gwynedd Mercy Academy) less than two minutes later.
The Generals controlled the tempo of the game throughout the first half, as evidenced by their 18-0 first-half shot margin and 7-0 corner kick advantage.
Senior midfielder
Grace Wielechowski (Charlotte, N.C. / Charlotte Catholic) added the final score of the game in the 47th minute. Junior defender
Liz Sullivan (Blauvelt, N.Y. / Tappen Zee) took a throw-in on the right side and found White, who gave it back to Sullivan. Needing just one touch, Sullivan crossed the ball into the center of the box, where Wielechowski finished with her right leg and inside the right post.
White's and Wielechowski's goals were their seventh scores of the season, which lead the team. Berman's score in the 34th minute was her third this year, while Berish tallied her first goal of the season. Senior
Annie Martin (Martinsburg, W.Va. / Martinsburg) and junior
Cameron Grainger (Charlotte, N.C. / Charlotte Country Day) led the W&L offense with four shots each.
Junior
Sydney Smith (Damascus, Md. / Damascus) (12-0-4) and first-year
Abby Groff (Blacklick, Ohio / Saint Francis DeSales) split the team shutout in goal for the Blue and White. Smith started and played the first half, while Groff came on for the second half. Averett finished the game with one shot on goal, which Groff saved in the 67th minute. Overall, it was W&L's ninth shutout of the season.
For the Cougars, Isobel Evans tallied all three of Averett's shots in the game, and she put two attempts on goal. In addition to Groff's save, W&L came up with a team save in the 62nd minute on an Evans shot. In goal, Alyson Kinkopf (5-7-2) took the loss after she allowed four goals and made nine saves in 86:24 of action. Evelyn Balderrama came on to play the final 3:36 and made one save.
Shot totals finished at 27-3 in favor of the Generals, including 15-2 in shots on goal. Corner kicks also favored the Blue and White by a 10-1 margin.
The Generals will return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Lynchburg for a 7:00 pm kick-off in their final road game of the regular season.
