CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Georgia Southern freshman Paisley Cathey headed in a corner kick in the 43rd minute to give the Eagles a 1-0 women's college soccer victory over Western Carolina on Thursday evening from the Catamount Sports Complex in Cullowhee, N.C.
The Eagles (2-1) won the first matchup between the two former SoCon rivals since 2013, the year Georgia Southern women's soccer left the league for the Sun Belt. The two-time defending SoCon regular season champion Catamounts fell to 1-2 on the year with the loss.
Cathey continues the stellar start to her collegiate career as she tallies a goal in her third straight match, matching Katie Szeghalmi (2000) for Eagle freshmen who tallied goals in their first three collegiate matches. This one came on a corner kick from senior Erin Wilkins from the right side, and Cathey headed it from the far post and it looped inside the near post off of a WCU defender for the goal.
"It's impressive what she's doing," Georgia Southern head women's soccer coach Chris Adams said. "She just comes in and does her job calmly, and you can tell the moment's not too big for her. Tonight she scored a very important goal for us."
The assist was the 10th in Erin Wilkins' career on a set piece and her ninth on a corner kick. She is Georgia Southern's active career leader in assists now with 16.
The score would remain 1-0 at halftime as the Catamounts held a 9-4 edge in shots at halftime.
In the second half, redshirt junior goalkeeper Katie Oakley shined in her first start of the season. She made five saves in the second half, including a pair of point-blank saves in the final three minutes of the match, to record the clean sheet, her 10th career shutout. She would make eight saves total in the contest.
Western Carolina held a 23-9 edge in shots for the match and had a 3-2 edge in corner kicks. Leanne Trudel made four saves on the night for the home team, and the Eagles were whistled for 10 fouls in the contest, while Western Carolina was whistled for seven fouls and seven offsides.
"I'm super proud of the result we were able to get tonight," Coach Adams said. "We play result-oriented soccer, so for us to have to modify how we play to get a result - it was really good job of the team to buy into the game plan and execute it for 90 minutes. We've had a good showing against the SoCon tournament champions and now the regular season champions so far this year, which speaks highly of how the Sun Belt league as a whole is regarded among the collegiate landscape."
Georgia Southern returns to action on Sunday, August 24, hosting No. 13-ranked Arkansas in a 2 p.m. matchup at Bo Pitts Field in Statesboro. Arkansas will be the highest-ranked opponent ever to play against GS women's soccer in Statesboro and the third overall nationally-ranked team to face the Eagles at home.
