Box Score NEWBERRY - It took only four minutes and three seconds for Brayden Miller to score the goal that would go down as the game winner in a record setting match as the Newberry Wolves earned head coach Karrie Miller her 43rd career victory at Newberry in a 2-0 win over Lees-McRae - making Miller the winningest coach in school history for men's or women's soccer.
Women's soccer has been played at Newberry College since 1995 and Miller is the sixth coach in the programs 18-year-old history. Miller's win total surpasses former men's soccer coach Sam Okpodu who won 42 matches in his seven-year career at Newberry. Miller surpassed the women's record on September 13 when the Wolves topped Coker 4-0, passing former Newberry head coach Juan Pablo Favero's 40 wins.
The opening goal of Newberry's (5-6-3) win over Lees-McRae (8-4-1) came off a free kick opportunity when senior Katie Sas (Columbia, S.C.) sent a ball toward the top of the 18-yard box where sophomore Brayden Miller (Lyman, S.C.) played the ball off her chest and hit a shot off the half-volley across the goal mouth and in for her fourth goal of the season.
Newberry controlled possession most of the first half and outshot the Bobcats 9-6 in the opening period. The ninth shot of the half for Newberry came when senior Tiffany Kinner (North Myrtle Beach, S.C.) sent a well placed cross over the 18-yard box where freshman Heather Stork (Lexington, S.C.) hammered a header into the ground allowing the ball to skip over Lees-McRae goalkeeper Kaitlyn Briggs for the second goal of the afternoon. Stork's 43rd-minute tally was her second of her career.
Lees-McRae dominated the second period, outshooting the Wolves 13-0 and forcing Newberry's sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Cox (Perth, Western Australia, Australia) to record four saves. Perhaps the most spectacular save of the match came when Mary Dorn placed a free kick just under the crossbar, but saw the would be goal pushed over the bar by Cox.
Newberry was outshot 19-9 by the Bobcats, but saw Cox record eight saves on the afternoon.
Kinner and Sas both recorded their first assists of the season and second of their careers.
The Wolves continue non-conference action on Thursday when they travel to Milledgeville, Ga., for a 6 p.m. meeting with Georgia College.