PIKEVILLE – UPIKE women’s soccer long losing streak is finally over after the Bears defeated Hiwassee on Monday, 3-2.
However, it was not an easy win for the Bears (2-8) who had to fight off a furious comeback from the Tigers (3-2) in the final 30 minutes to preserve the victory.
The Bears got the scoring started early when Grace Stacy netted her first goal of the season in the sixth minute on a deep cross from Lyndsey Jones. Six minutes later Skylar Chapman put home a header on Kate Auvil’s corner to give UPIKE an early 2-0 lead.
Reagan Bridge added to the score in the 25th minute with a rocket from 25 yards to beat the Hiwassee keeper. The Bears took 15 more shots than the Tigers in the first half (18-3) in arguably their most dominant half of the season.
However the second half was a different story. Neither team could really get anything going and then Hiwassee’s Lainey Floyd broke through the defense and scored the Tigers’ first goal to stun the bears.
That momentum continued for Hiwassee as all six of their shots on goal came in the second half while UPIKE only got three away in that time. Diana Rojas scored with seven minutes to go to cut the UPIKE lead to just one, but the Bears mustered up enough defense to preserve the win.
UP NEXT
UPIKE opens up the Mid-South Conference schedule on Wednesday with a 12:00 p.m. home matchup with Cumberland (Tenn.) at Bob Amos Complex.
(Source: UPIKE Sport Information Office)