MARYVILLE – Maryville threw a stranglehold on the Collegiate Conference of the South's regular season title race here Wednesday night with a 3-0 victory over rival Piedmont.
Defeat eighth-place Agnes Scott on Saturday for Homecoming and Senior Day, and the Scots assure themselves of home field advantage throughout the upcoming conference tournament. Maryville is 4-0 at home this year, outscoring their opponents 20-1.
Last year, Maryville lost the championship in penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw at Piedmont, so Wednesday night was a reminder of how much the Scots want to turn those tables in 2023.
MC smothered the visiting Lions in this one, outshooting them 23-1 and holding a 63 percent-to-37 percent edge in ball possession. Maryville held a 7-1 margin in corner kicks, and the defense was so tight that goalkeeper
Sophie Turner registered her fifth solo shutout of the season without making a single save.
Turner lowered her CCS-leading numbers to an 0.39 goals-against average and an .846 save percentage.
"It was a complete performance," Maryville head coach
Pepe Fernandez said. "Piedmont hustled and worked hard and made us work for things. But we created so many fantastic chances and scored some good goals. I'm not sure how many posts we hit but there were quite a few.
"There were some great performances.
Ellie Schuld coming off the bench was really good, and
Chloe Chase played her best game in a Maryville uniform. She was so good. It was such a superior performance by so many people that it's hard to single anybody out."
Procter Scores Twice
Anabelle Procter scored two goals for the third time this season, lifting her total to seven for the year and 12 for her career. The first goal came right at the start of the second half off a nice feed from
Ellie Schuld, while the second was a curling strike in the upper left corner from 30 yards out just before the final horn.
"We hit the post a lot," Procter said of the offensive attack. "Moving the ball and playing it around at the top of the field, keeping the ball for possession and trying to create combos really helped us tonight.
"We are looking good and heading toward the conference tournament in a good spot."
Hannah Smoot scored the opening goal, her eighth of the season to tie
Sierra Lee for the team lead. The Scots were peppering the Piedmont goal with an array of shots in the 18th minute until the ball finally found Smoot and she punched it home from 4 yards out.
Smoot was the leader with six shot attempts, followed by
Madison McDonald with four. Chase, Lee and Procter attempted three shots apiece.
24th Consecutive 10-Win Season
"That gets us right on the cusp," said Fernandez, who reaches 10 wins on the women's side for the 24th consecutive season and for the 30th time overall in 33 years coaching the Maryville women. "One more. If we can't clinch at home for Homecoming and for Senior Day, we don't deserve it."
The Scots improved to 10-2-3 overall and 6-0-1 in the CCS, good for 19 points and one point ahead of Belhaven at 6-1-0. Piedmont (8-6-4) finishes its CCS regular season at 5-2-1 for 16 points, which is one point clear of Covenant at 4-1-2 for 14 points with one match remaining.
Maryville and Belhaven each have a Saturday match to play. The Scots host Agnes Scott (1-5-1) and Belhaven is home to Wesleyan (0-7-0). Maryville pulled ahead in the league race by virtue of its 1-0 win at Belhaven this past Saturday.
The Maryville women host Asbury on Thursday night at 6 o'clock. Saturday's game against Agnes Scott is also a 6 p.m. start for Homecoming and Senior Day.
