BREVARD, N.C. – Ashley Hughes surpassed the Brevard College NCAA-era single-season goals and points records as the BC Tornados Women's Soccer team (8-5, 4-2) defeated the LaGrange Panthers (4-7-1, 1-4) by a final score of 5-0 on Friday afternoon at Ives-Lemel Field.
Hughes took over the top spot in the BC record books as she now has tallied a USA South Conference-leading 13 goals and 28 points in 2018. Hughes passed fellow senior captain, Megan Shina who tallied 11 goals and 24 points in the 2017 season.
Head Coach Juan Mascaro's offense dominated possession in the contest, outshooting LaGrange by a whopping 33-2 margin, including a 20-1 first half tally that only yielded one score for the Brevard offense.
Brevard came out of the gate bound and determined to put pressure on the Panthers' defense. The Tornados struck first as Shina (9th goal of season) drove home a pass from Caroline David (8th assist of season) to give BC an early 1-0 advantage in the sixth minute. However, BC would go scoreless for the next 52 minutes, as LaGrange goalkeeper Emma Smith recorded an impressive 16 saves throughout the contest.
In the 57th minute, BC goalkeeper and two-time USA South Defensive Player of the Week Hannah Weatherall checked in to play the field. This marked the first time in her BC career that Weatherall had logged minutes as a field player. She promptly recorded her first career shot attempt just two minutes into action.
The Tornados found their groove 14 minutes into the second half, as Hughes drilled her record-breaking goal in the 59th minute to give BC a 2-0 advantage.
Just eight minutes later, Hughes found the back of the net once more to bring her season goal total to 13, as starting goalkeeper Rebeccah Rojas (5-3-0) booted a deep ball to Hughes, who promptly scored to give BC a 3-0 advantage.
The scoring outburst was not finished, however. Goalkeeper-turned-field player Weatherall drilled her first collegiate goal in the 75th minute off of a corner kick by Abbie Petrosky (3rd assist of year).
Just five minutes later, Weatherall scored again, gaining possession from a LaGrange defender in the box and placing it past Smith's outstretched arms on the right side of the goal.
In addition to outshooting Lagrange 33-2, Brevard controlled more corners with a (14-2) advantage. Starting goalkeeper Rojas notched her fifth win and third shutout of 2018.
Brevard returns to action in a little over 24 hours, as the Tornados square off with Huntingdon at 4:30 p.m. at Ives-Lemel Field.
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