Follow @RadfordWSOC

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The 2017 season has come to an end for the Radford women's soccer team after dropping a 2-0 decision to fourth-seeded Campbell in the Big South Championship quarterfinals Saturday night.
 
The Highlanders end the year with an 11-7-0 record, representing the most wins the program has earned since the 2013 campaign. The Camels improve to 10-6-2 and march on to the Big South Championship semifinals where they will meet top-seeded Liberty.
 
Luck was certainly not on Radford's side at the Eakes Athletics Complex Saturday night and sometimes luck makes all the difference.
 
Just two minutes into the match, Campbell earned a corner kick, which Shannon Wratchford served into the box. Senior captain Shelby Denkert rose up and headed the ball past the Radford defense and into the back of the net to give her side an early 1-0 lead.
 
From that moment on, the Highlanders completely dominated possession and pace of play. The halftime break arrived with Radford owning an 11-1 lead in shots including a Jasmine Casarez effort in the 26th minute that rang off the crossbar.
 
The stout Radford back line held the Camels without a single shot attempt after their opening goal until the 55th minute, but once again Campbell made its scarce shot attempt count. Wratchford appeared to be sending a cross into the box from the right flank, but the ball stayed in the air until it snuck across the goal line and into the goal at the far post, making it a 2-0 game.
 
Sophomore midfielder Nicole Ray came close to pulling one back in the 65th minute, but her sharp strike from 20 yards out was saved by Campbell goalkeeper Erin Scott and pushed off the crossbar. Then in the 67th minute, junior forward Jessica Wollmann's hard hit on goal met the same fate as Scott got just enough of a hand on the ball to push it off the crossbar and out of danger.
 
The Highlanders finished the match with a 24-3 advantage in shot attempts, their best shot differential of the season.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Junior forward Ana Revollo earned a place in the Starting XI for the first time this season
• Despite taking only one shot all season, Revollo placed four shots on goal tonight
• The all-time series with Campbell is now all tied up a 7-7-2 (.500)
• The last three games between Radford and Campbell have all ended in a 2-0 victory for Campbell, including in last season's Big South Championship quarterfinals as well
• Campbell's Erin Scott played a great game and made nine saves while Radford goalkeeper Lexi Dean received almost no shots faced and therefore recorded no saves for the first time in her career
• Casarez, Wollmann, Ray, Revollo and freshman midfielder Gabi Paupst all posted four shots on the night
• Paupst, Dean, Casarez, Emily Dunn, Jane Everett and Alex Struder all played the full 90 minutes
•  The Highlanders held a commanding 9-4 lead in corner kicks taken as well

 
QUOTABLE
"We started the first two minutes of the game poorly, but the next 88 minutes we dominated them outshooting them, hitting the crossbar 3 times, and many other opportunities that didn't go. You have to give credit to their goalkeeper. She was the player of the match. For 88 minutes we played the best we played all year and were honestly just plain unlucky. I would like to thank our seniors for their selfless commitment and dedication to this program. It was a tough pill to swallow but soccer is like that sometimes." - Head Coach Ben Sohrabi

AROUND THE BIG SOUTH (Friday)
Liberty 2, Gardner-Webb 1
High Point 2, Winthrop 0
Longwood 3, Charleston Southern 0