SALISBURY, N.C. — Reigning D2CIDA National Player of the Week Bree Ehmer converted a penalty kick in the 88th minute to break a scoreless stalemate and give the eighth-ranked Catawba College women's soccer team a 1-0 triumph over Emory & Henry on Saturday at Frock Field.
Ehmer led the way with four shots, including two on net, the last marking her first PK attempt of the season to improve to 4-for-7 in her career. Lucy Hack and Ali Skinner also chipped in on-target deliveries with one apiece. Skinner, Cadence Setzer and Avery Rush each accounted for two shots to make four players posting multiple attempts. Lauren Zitt stood tall in net with four saves in her fourth shutout of the year.
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Catawba (6-2, 3-0 SAC) outshot Emory & Henry (2-3-2, 0-2-1 SAC) by a sizable 15-5 margin, but the Wasps erased the gap at 4-4 in shots on goal. The blue and white possessed a 9-6 advantage in corner kicks, despite the even 5-5 ledger in the second half. A combined nine fouls were called in the match, with the lone yellow card being shown to a Wasp.
The first two shots saw Ehmer miss up and away in the third and 22nd minutes, bookending a trio of Catawba corners in the early going. Rush had a shot blocked just moments after checking in during the hosts' first wave of subs. Emory & Henry was credited with the initial shot on goal in the 37th minute when Sadie Moseley forced Zitt to squeeze a shot aimed toward the middle of the net. A hard foul in the 37th minute warranted a card to the visitors, setting up a deep free kick that Hack put on frame. Moseley added a second on-goal try just before the halftime break, but Zitt gobbled it up to keep proceedings at nil-nil.
The Catawba Indians started the second stanza strong, pushing into Wasp territory in a hurry as Skinner, Kennedy McGuire and Ella Matthews took shots around two corner kicks in the opening 10 minutes. Ehmer had a promising look turned away soon after, putting a boot to the goal's upper half where Sophie Wagner made the save. Zitt fended off another shot on goal ahead of a four-minute flurry of three corner kicks midway through the half. Catawba continued to press to no avail, while Zitt successfully defended the left side to deny the Wasps again.
After controlling possession off a corner, Ehmer dribbled into the box and absorbed contact to draw a PK with 2:08 to go. The senior forward used a flush strike inside the left post to break the tie and put the Catawba Indians on top for a 1-0 victory on Family Weekend.
Catawba returns to the field on Wednesday, Sept. 23, with a road trip to Anderson. Kickoff against the Trojans is scheduled for 5 p.m.
