FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEBREVARD COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATIONFriday, August 29, 2008

LADY TORNADOS ROUT COLUMBIA TO OPEN 2008 SEASON

Eight BC players score in 9-2 victory

Brevard, N.C. - The Brevard College Lady Tornados opened the 2008 season in style Friday afternoon, thrashing the Columbia College Lady Koalas, 9-2, at the Brevard Soccer Complex. Liz Stojetz's team moves to 1-0 with the win, while Columbia falls to 0-1.

Brevard controlled play from the opening whistle, firing the first six shots of the game, but it was Columbia that found the back of the net first. Just two minutes after entering the game, substitute Jacqueline DeManche banged home a loose ball in the box to put the Koalas up 1-nil in the 16th minute.

But the Lady Tornados would not be fazed by the early deficit, as Courtney Sofferin scored the equalizer on a cross from Carrilea Potter to even the tally at 1 in the 18th minute.

Brevard gained a lead they would not relinquish in the 24th minute, when Ashley Fincher scored on a shot from 35 yards out. Alyssa Caracena assisted, and the Lady Tornados led 2-1.

The rest of the first half was an offensive showcase for Stojetz's side, as they would score three more times before the halftime whistle. Caracena scored her first collegiate goal in the 26th minute off a pass from fellow freshman Latoshia Hopewell to make the score 3-1. Emily Belchyk stretched the lead to 4-1 in the 43rd minute off a cross from Caracena, and Cherie Haseltine banged home a goal off of a Belchyk cross just a minute later to make it 5-1.

The Lady Tornados were the stronger side in the second stanza as well. Potter added to the tally in the 48th minute off of a Caracena cross to make it 6-1. The assist was Caracena's third of the afternoon.

Potter linked up with Baily Varley in the 52nd minute, to make it 7-1, and Hopewell scored her first career goal in the 70th minute after Belchyk's shot took the Columbia keeper out of commission to give Brevard a seven-goal advantage.

Brevard conceded one more goal in the 79th minute. Columbia's Skylarh Thorne found the back of the net when her free kick from 25 yards out deflected off of the Brevard wall and past keeper Jennifer Elzey to narrow the score to 8-2.

But the Lady Tornados weren't done lighting the lamp. Hopewell scored the ninth and final goal in the 85th minute after another blazing Belchyk shot knocked the Koala keeper off of her feet and cleared the net. The goal was Hopewell's second of the day and mercifully ended the proceedings at 9-2.

The secondary statistics demonstrated the Tornados' dominance every bit as much as the score line. BC took a whopping 39 shots to Columbia's seven. Brevard took eight corner kicks, to Columbia's one. Sydney Douglas played the first half in net, stopping two shots and conceding one goal, and Elzey played the second half, also tallying two saves and one goal allowed.

The Lady Tornados look to continue their winning ways Monday, as they travel to South Carolina to face the Anderson University Trojans. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. The Lady Koalas face their second straight South Atlantic Conference foe on Sunday, as they square off with Lenoir-Rhyne College.