Oct. 23, 2007

(from Berry College Sports Information)

Mt. Berry, Ga. - Patty Llaguno scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes and the Berry defense held on for its fourth-consecutive shutout, as the Berry women's soccer team eliminated local-rival Shorter from the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament with a 7-0 win on Tuesday. The win advances Berry (10-4-2) to the semifinals of the SSAC Tournament, which will be at hosted at Berry's Ford Field at noon this Friday. Shorter (6-10) will await a possible at-large bid to the Region XIII Tournament.

The Vikings jumped on top early as Llaguno, Berry's leading scorer this season, netted on an assist from Shannon Hackett in the seventh minute of play. Just over three-minutes later the Spanish striker doubled the Berry lead when she deflected Laura Phyfers shot past Hawks goalkeeper Corrie McIvarey-Davidson and into the Shorter goal.

The Berry defense allowed the Llahguno tally to stand up as the match winner, by posting its fourth-consecutive shutout of the season. The defense allowed just two shots all game and neither were on goal. That allowed Berry goalkeeper Vanessa Zimmermann to record her 12th shutout of the season without making a save.

Berry out-shot Shorter 22-2 in the match, including a 15-0 advantage in shots on goal. The Vikings continued to press in the second half even with the lead. The pressure paid off in the 51st minute when Viktoria Frost whipped in a corner kick across the Hawks goal-mouth. The ball was mistakenly deflected by a Shorter defender and put into the Shorter goal to give Berry a 3-0 lead.

Frost was not finished and just over five minutes later she served a cross to Courtney Weber that the freshman rose to and headed past McIvarey-Davidson. Frost was also a provider on Weber's second goal of the match in the 63rd minute. Her pass found Shannon Hackett's feet and the sophomore passed to Weber who made it 5-0 for Berry.

In the 70th minute Hackett added a tally of her own. She beat the Shorter defense off a nifty one-two pass with Lindsey Caldwell, then drove the ball low and hard into the far corner past McIvarey-Davidson. The Shorter keeper finished the day with five saves and was lifted after the goal in favor of Jessica Hoskinson.

Hoskinson made three saves in her time in the goal and was only beaten once over the final 20 minutes of play. The lone goal scored against her was a headed effort by Jenna Davis from a Frost corner kick, which made it 7-0.

The total of 12 shutouts this season ties as the most shutouts in the conference with Lee's Kristi Koudelka. This season all of Berry's wins this season have been shutouts. The Berry defense has not conceded a goal in over 367 minutes of game play.