The Charlotte 49ers women’s soccer team won their 19th consecutive game against A-10 competition Friday night with a 4-0 win over the Rams of Rhode Island at Transamerica Field.
Behind steady goaltending from senior Lauren Brown and goals from Hailey Beam, Oni Bernard, Lena Suarez, and Whitney Weinraub, the 49ers moved to 9-2 on the season, 3-0 in Atlantic 10 play.
“Very pleased, once again. We had four different goal scorers, the passing was of very high quality tonight,” Head coach John Cullen said. “I thought we controlled the pace of the game which is what we’ve been wanting to do.”
Beam got the scoring underway in the 7th minute when she headed in a Sam Huecker corner kick. The goal gave Beam 32 for her illustrious career and moved her past Jill Currie for second place on the team’s all-time scoring list.
Just six minutes later, Jonna Handra found Bernard with a perfect through-pass that allowed Bernard to make the score 2-0.
The goal was the second of the season for Bernard.
The most impressive goal of the night came in the 72nd minute when Lena Suarez took a Bernard cross and blasted the ball into the back of the net from 20 yards out. The goal also gave Suarez two on the season.
Weinraub moved into a tie for sixth place on the team’s all-time goal scoring list in the 78th minute when she took a pass from Suarez and beat Rhode Island keeper Tara Murphy with a shot to the lower left corner of the goal. The goal was her team-leading, ninth of the season and 27th of her career.
Charlotte’s defense recorded their second consecutive shutout and seventh of the season behind the play of starting defenders Whitney Bryant, Megan Minnix, Katie Davies, and Danielle Mayeaux.
“We’re getting better defensively, we’re talking about getting into the month of October and stepping up the quality,” Coach Cullen said. “It’s a new month and we know we have to step it up to another level, that’s been our focus this week.”
After moving to 3-0 in Atlantic 10 play, coach Cullen thought there was some room for improvement, but overall was very happy with his team’s play.
“We just want to build on how we’re playing, I want us to get better with the ball and without the ball,” Cullen said. “I definitely want to improve the pre-game meal, I was missing my Skittles today. I normally have some Skittles and there were no Skittles on the sideline today so I’m concerned about the pre-game meal.”
The 49ers have a tough road coming up this weeks as they travel on the road to face Atlantic 10 foes Dayton and Xavier.
Charlotte will host the Atlantic 10 Tournament November 5-8 at Transamerica field. Tickets for the tournament will go on sale at a later date.
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