AMERICUS, Ga. – With a win over No. 2 Columbus State behind them, No. 14 Clayton State (14-2, 9-1 PBC) kept on rolling as they delivered a 5-0 victory at Georgia Southwestern (0-15, 0-9 PBC) in an NCAA Division II women's soccer game on Wednesday, October 22.
Following nearly 14 minutes of scoreless play, junior midfielder Rachael Schmidt (Snellville, Ga.) got the Lakers on the board as she took it herself on a breakaway for a 1-0 lead at the 13:57 mark. Junior forward Brooke Bortles (Suwanee, Ga.) then found junior midfielder Maria Marti Bartis (Girona, Spain) 14 minutes later on a cross from the left side to make it 2-0 with 28:12 gone by.
After taking that margin into the half, it wouldn't take long for Clayton State to expand their lead. Doing the honors was Bortles, who was the recipient of a pass to the top of the box by sophomore forward Denisha Paskell (McDonough, Ga.) that helped make it a three-goal margin less than five minutes into the frame.
Less than five minutes later it would be senior forward Melissa Hetherington (Burley, England) pushing to 4-0 as she lofted an unassisted score from 30 yards out at the 54:46 mark. She would then follow with an assist off of a corner, hitting senior forward Lois Edvardsson (Goteborg, Sweden) for a goal with 80:16 gone by to reach the final margin of 5-0.
Bortles and Hetherington each had a goal and an assist to lead the Lakers while Schmidt, Marti Bartis and Edvardsson each had solo scores. Paskell had the only other assist on the day and junior goalkeeper Charlotte McCormack (Wexford, England) notched 35:23 of scoreless play in goal, making a pair of saves to pick up the win and move to 12-1 on the year. Sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Charman (Harfield, England) finished the game with 54:37 in net, making one stop in the process.
Colleen Livings posted four shots, one on goal, to come closest to any offense for the Hurricanes while Elyse Gowen went the distance in goal. She allowed all five goals and made 20 saves.
On the day, Clayton State out shot GSW 39-7.
The Lakers return to the field on Saturday, October 25 when they host USC Aiken on Alumni Weekend. Game time is slated for 5 p.m. as part of an evening double header with the men's team. It will also be Senior Night for both programs.
