SALISBURY, N.C. – It was assured on Sunday that one team using the moniker Lady Indians would rise victorious.

Unfortunately for the Newberry women’s soccer program, that team was the nationally ranked Catawba Lady Indians, as they thawarted an upstart Newberry team 3-0 in a South Atlantic Conference match up.  Newberry drops to 5-2 overall, and 1-1 in the SAC.

“I think the game was an eye-opening experience for our team as to the quality of soccer that is played by the elite teams in the nation,” noticed head coach Juan Pablo Favero.  “Catawba (ranked 18th nationally) is certainly one of those teams and they were better than us.”

The two teams battled equally at the start, as both Newberry and Catawba had opportunities in and around each others boxes.  A Newberry foul led to the first Catawba goal in the 30th minute. Jennifer Lowe (Enfield, CT) took a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box, deflecting off the shoulder of a Newberry defender.  The slight deflection caused the ball to curve left just enough to find the net.  The first half ended with Catawba up 1-0.

The Lady Indians of Catawba got some insurance early in the second half, as Jessica Parker (Glendale, AZ) fired a shot from 35 yards out in the 51st minute, that just snuck under the crossbar, beyond the outstretched hands of Newberry keeper Danielle Beckerle (St. Louis, MO). McKenzie Burman (Rolesville, NC) tallied the final goal on a breakaway in the 79th minute for her seventh. 

Newberry forward Inga Woiwode (El Paso, TX) had a couple of scoring chances for Newberry, firing high on both attempts.  Beckerle had another outstanding game picking up 11 saves in the match.

Coach Favero had some final thoughts on the game:

“Even though the result is not one we like, I was extremely proud of the effort and attitude of our players.  They had a never-quit attitude the whole game and had excellent effort throughout the game.  More importantly we dealt very well with adversity throughout the game and we showed a lot of heart and character.  This is one of those situations where we can learn a lot from and I expect our players to use this experience to help us continue to move in the right direction.  We have several more tough games coming up, so we need to re-focus on the next challenge.”

Up next for Newberry is against archrival Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. this Wednesday.  The game will take place under the lights at 7 p.m.