Short’s Late Goal Pushes Radford to First Victory of Young Season

Thursday, August 25

Hampton, VA

7:00 PM

Radford University

1-1-1

Hampton

0-2-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Radford	1	1	2
Hampton	0	1	1

Photo by: Rob Simmons

Short’s Late Goal Pushes Radford to First Victory of Young Season

8/25/2022 9:36:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

HAMPTON, Va. – The Radford women's soccer program took home its first victory of the 2022 season at Hampton on Thursday night thanks to the heroics of freshman Lilly Short. With just a two minutes left on the clock, Short knocked the winning goal off the crossbar and into the back of the net for the 2-1 win.

The first goal of the night came on the complete opposite end of the game clock for the Highlanders. Just five minutes into the game Amy Swain gave Radford a 1-0 lead from the top of the box off Kat Parris' second assist of the season. Radford's offense would keep that aggression throughout the entire match, outshooting the Pirates by wide margins in the first and second half.

By the end of the first half Radford held the 14-2 edge in shots and the 1-0 lead. The Highlanders also booted four corners while Jordan Phillips kept things locked down in the net with two saves.

The shots continued to ring out for the Highlanders in the second half, still searching for their second goal. Radford out-shot Hampton 14-1 in the second half with five of those shots on goal. In the 64th minute, however, a costly foul led to a penalty kick that Hampton converted to tie the game up at 1-all.

With 25 minutes to go, Radford did not let up. Alexeis Kirnos got off a shot on goal that was saved a couple minutes later while Katelyn O'Donnell and Helena Willson also got shots off of their own that went high. In the 78th minute, Parris got off a header from a corner kick, but the scoring attempt was thwarted by the Hampton goalie.

With under five minutes to go Radford mounted their last handful of offensive attacks looking for a win in enemy territory. Shots by Katie Oliver and Paige Olson just missed their targets, suddenly leaving just two minutes left on the clock for a decider.

The freshman, Short, stepped up big time for Radford, netting her first collegiate goal that tipped the crossbar before heading into the top of the net, making it a 2-1 lead. Oliver earned her first assist of the season thanks to her pass from the right side.

Radford held possession for the rest of the game and held on for the 2-1 win, their first in the early stretch of the 2022 season. The Highlanders finished the game with 28 shots, the team's most since firing off 31 shots against Delaware State last season. The Highlanders also collected 12 corner kicks on the night while not allowing the Pirates to kick from the corner a single time.

"Overall I think we played well tonight," commented head coach Ben Sohrabi. "We moved the ball well and created lots of opportunities and set pieces. We just have to capitalize better and put a team away when we get chances. Credit to Hampton for fighting back and tying the game. I was proud of our group to keep pressing and score the game winner late."

Radford is back at home this Sunday, August 28th to play host to Wofford at 6 pm. It will be a rematch between the two squads who met last season where Radford pulled away late for a 7-0 victory.

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