Box Score Radford, Va. - The second-seeded Highlanders scored in the 79th minute of play, defeating the #7 Fighting Camels 1-0 in the first round of Big South tournament action Saturday at Cupp Stadium. This marks the second-straight year Radford (12-2-4, 7-0-4 Big South) has beaten Campbell (10-8-1, 5-6-0) in the conference tournament.
In 2011, the Highlanders won over the Fighting Camels in the Big South Championship game 1-0.
Saturday, the first half ended scoreless, after the Camels put three shots on goal and freshman keeper Alexis Connors stopped three Highlander tries.
Connors saved seven shots Radford put on-frame in the 32 opening minutes of the second half. In the 75th minute, Radford's Mary Wiley had a low shot on-goal when Connors was out of the net. Senior defender Jeannie Borda made a stop on the goal line to keep the match scoreless.
Five minutes later in the 80th minute, Radford broke the scoreless tie. Asyia Mitchell scored her first goal of the year after Kara Nay gave her a through ball eight yards out. Mitchell put the ball in the back of the net, bringing the score to 1-0 in favor of the Highlanders.
The Camels' final and best scoring chance of the game was from sophomore Ashley Clark with just under three minutes to play. Clark had a hard shot from 15 yards out that keeper Che' Brown got a finger on to tip the ball over the crossbar.
Connors finished with a season-high 10 saves, and Campbell totaled nine shots in the contest.
The preseason favorite to win the conference, the Fighting Camels finished with a 5-6-0 regular season Big South record.
The 2012 Big South Championship continues with semifinal matches on Friday and the championship game next Sunday afternoon in Rock Hill, S.C.
