Keyser, W.VA. – The Garrett College women's soccer team had no answer for Catamount standout Morgan Pyles – but, then again, neither has anyone else.
Pyles scored twice Thursday night, including the game's first goal, as Potomac State College of West Virginia University blanked the Lady Lakers, 4-0. Pyles also had the opening tally three nights earlier in a 2-0 win over Garrett College.
Pyles now has eight goals this season, matching her total from 2022 when she was a first-team all-NJCAA Region 20 selection. She played for Alderson Broaddus University prior to transferring to PSC, and is back with the Catamounts this year after being granted an extra year of eligibility.
"You can't teach speed and you can't teach aggressiveness – she's got both," GC head coach Brandon Jackson said of Pyles. "She's the engine for Potomac State. She makes that team tick."
The Lady Lakers' best offensive opportunity came off a corner kick in the 18th minute and the game scoreless. Cara Stout's shot from the right side of the penalty box beat Catamount goalie Hartley VanGilder high to the short left corner of the goal. Defender Allysen Miller, however, was guarding the short side and headed the ball out of danger.
"That was unfortunate – we had a couple of corners back-to-back and just couldn't capitalize," said Jackson.
"I felt very confident the first 30 minutes of the match," added GC's coach. "We had Potomac State on their heels, and we were defensively sound."
With the game still scoreless, Pyles collected a loose ball on the left wing about 30 yards from the Garrett net. She moved to the middle, dribbled past one defender, and beat GC goaltender Sara Tabuena to the short right side with 17:31 remaining in the half.
PSC's second goal, set up by a Makenzie Park corner kick, came with 7:50 remaining in the half. Park's corner was headed into the box, setting up a scramble for the ball, which was eventually controlled by Hannah Ault. She sent a low shot into the right corner of the net to make it 2-0.
The Catamounts broke the game open as Ault scored her second goal off a Taylor Kirk feed with 3:10 remaining in the half. Kirk gathered a loose ball on the left wing and slid a pass to Ault at the top of the penalty box. Ault dribbled in and put a 10-yarder just under the crossbar to make it 3-0.
"We were scoreless with 17 minutes left in the first half and ended up being down 3-0 at halftime," noted Jackson. The question for us right now is, can we get to that level of playing a 90-minute match? We're at about the 75-minute level now."
The second half was scoreless for nearly 35 minutes as Tabuena made six of her seven saves after intermission. Pyles finishing the scoring by putting a penalty kick – awarded after a pushing call against GC in the box – into the lower-right corner of the net with 5:14 remaining.
PSC (5-3) finished with a 20-4 advantage in shots. VanGilder only needed to make one save to earn the shutout.
The Catamounts finished with a 7-3 advantage in corners against Garrett (1-4).
"With an all-freshman team, we knew there would be some learning bumps," said Jackson. "I'm very happy with the strides that we're taking."
PSC 2, Garrett 0
Keyser, W.VA. – Morgan Pyles scored 5:39 into last Monday night's game and goaltender Hartley VanGilder made six saves to earn the shutout.
Alyssa Dunn scored off a Makenzie Park assist just 2:52 into the second half to complete the scoring.
GC netminder Sara Tabuena finished with eight saves.
PSC had a 22-12 shots advantage and 8-1 edge in corners.
CSM 4, Garrett College 1
La Plata, MD – Keyara Rhodes had the only Lady Laker goal in a September 12th loss at the College of Southern Maryland.
Zoi Whitsett scored 15:44 into the game and Natalie Schiavonne tallied twice as CSM (3-2-1, 2-0-1) built a 3-0, first-half lead. Megan Hinton (goal, assist) scored 10:20 into the second half to make it 4-0.
Rhodes' unassisted goal, with 1:39 remaining, averted a shutout.
Ashley Cox faced no Lady Laker shots while playing goal in the first half for CSM. Schiavonne had one save while playing the second half in the net and allowed Rhodes' late goal.
Lady Laker goaltender Sara Tabuena made eight saves while facing 12 CSM shots on goal. Southern Maryland finished with a 17-6 shots advantage.
