ROME, Ga. - Two first half goals from
Alessia Confalonieri on her birthday and a dominant defensive team performance proved more than enough for Faulkner to take a 3-0 win over NCAA DII outfit Shorter Saturday night at Ben Brady Stadium.
The "Pasta Princess" opened the scoring with a magical free kick in the 20th minute from nearly 40 yards out on the left side of the pitch, looping over the goalkeeper and into the right side of the net.
Just five minutes later,
Madlene Weissenbach intercepted a Shorter goalkeeper throw to the touchline and dribbled down the left wing before crossing into Confalonieri who was just inside the middle of the penalty area. The Italian settled with the right foot before striking a left-footed finish to the bottom right corner to double the Faulkner lead. It was Weissenbach's first assist of her season after redshirting last year due to injury.
Faulkner kept knocking on the door with 12 shots on frame in the first half, but could not extend the lead more into the half.
However, the defensive performance held strong once again, locking down Shorter and allowing just one shot to leave a Hawk foot; the effort was blocked and the Lady Eagles did not allow an attempt on frame.
The pressure paid off again in the 70th minute when
Cassie Jackson pressed the goalkeeper on a backpass. The netminder took a heavy touch and Jackson pounced on the opportunity and fired the ball into the net for her third goal of the season and second coming directly from pressing the keeper. Jackson has now scored in three consecutive matches.
Brittany Wilkinson did not have a lot of work to do as the team defensive effort caged the Hawks, but the starting goalkeeper impressed in her first career start when called upon. The senior made a couple of really good sweeping runs to settle any through balls that were put her way for the first 76 minutes in a combined shutout effort with
Reagan Embry who was also sparsely called upon in goal, but was also reliable when the summons arose.
Faulkner outshot Shorter 30-1 with 18 shots going on frame.
The win was the largest margin against the former SSAC foe in the 11 match history. Faulkner now has shut out Shorter the last 200 minutes of play. The Lady Eagles are now six matches unbeaten against the Hawks.
Faulkner rides a three match unbeaten streak–in which they have allowed just one goal–into another NCAA DII matchup, taking on Spring Hill on the road Thursday afternoon at 1.
