MARYVILLE – It's some rarified air when Maryville Women's Soccer milestones are matched.
Only once in the program's storied history have the Scots begun a season 4-0-0, and that was way back in 1991.
Make it twice.
Maryville captured its own Maryville College Invitational on Saturday with a 2-0 shutout of Transylvania. The Scots scored two times in the second half to continue another early trend besides winning. Eight of Maryville's 12 goals this season have come after intermission.
"It's a big surprise to be honest because we knew it was going to be a tough schedule at the start of the year and we planned it that way," Maryville associate head coach
Jon Baker said. "The fact that a young team has had a good start like this is very encouraging."
Hailey Cartt scored her first goal of the season on a header in the 66th minute.
Hannah Smoot lofted a corner into the box that was deflected onto the head of
Katie O'Brien, who headed it back toward the center. Cartt promptly headed it into the upper right corner for a 1-0 Scots lead.
O'Brien scored two goals in Friday's 7-0 triumph over Spalding, and on Saturday she assisted on two. The second came in the 75th minute when
Delaney Muldoon feathered a cross into the box. O'Brien headed it to a wide-open
Macy Lindsey, and Lindsey powered it into the upper near corner for her second goal of the season.
Ball possession time in this match was even, but Maryville outshot Transy 20-7. The second half saw a 9-4 edge to the Scots. Transylvania is now 1-1-1 on the season.
"Today, we felt like we were fatigued from playing the late game the night before," Baker said. "But we changed our formation at halftime and played more up-tempo, and the players responded and got after it. The challenge for playing up-tempo is you must move together; you're asking a lot from everybody.
"One thing we've been working on in practice is trying to get more players involved because soccer is a player's game. Once the game starts, they are making the decisions out there. We can't call timeout and draw up a play; it's up to them. We have tried to put them in situations in practice to replicate that."
Lindsey and
Sierra Lee both attempted four shots, with Cartt firing three.
Sophie Turner made six saves for her fourth victory.
Maryville hosts Sewanee on Tuesday at 8 p.m. The Tigers (2-1-1) drew 0-0 Saturday against Lynchburg and play at Roanoke on Sunday.
