Box Score NEWBERRY – Gabrielle Brodie converted a late first half penalty kick and Newberry dominated Coker on the stat sheet on their way to a 1-0 victory and clinched a home game in the SAC tournament.
The Wolves (9-2-2, 7-1-1) decisively outshot the Cobras (5-10, 3-6) with a season high 34 and only allowed five total shots including holding a 14-3 edge in shots on goal but Newberry struggled to put the ball into the back of the net.
Newberry held possession and continuously built well but took a majority of their shots from outside the box. The breakthrough came when Brodie (Rolleston, Canterbury, New Zealand) got taken down in the box and the Wolves were awarded a penalty kick.
Brodie calmly stepped up and put the ball to the right past the keeper, who guessed correctly, and into the net in the 42nd minute.
The Wolves had agonizing chances to seal a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated but none were closer than the chance Sarah Sager (Saugus, Calif.) had during the second half. In the 73rd minute Sager had a ball played across the face of goal by Breanna Naranjo (Oxnard, Calif.) and she made good contact with the ball but it unluckily clanked off the right post and back into play.
Brayden Miller (Lyman, S.C.) also had a shot sail just over the crossbar in the 81st minute and Newberry never looked like giving up the lead as the final whistle blew.
The victory means that Newberry will at least finish in the top four of the regular season SAC standings and they are currently in a three way tie for second place with Wingate and Lincoln Memorial. The Wolves drew with Wingate this past Friday and lost 1-0 to LMU back on Sept. 20th
Newberry will be back in action on Saturday for senior day and a free Moe’s giveaway for their 12:30 p.m. kickoff against Lenoir-Rhyne who currently sits in first in the SAC standings.
