Lady Tiger Soccer Team Opens Season with 4-0 Victory Over Liberty

Aug. 31, 2007

Clemson-Liberty Box Score (8/31/07)Download Free Acrobat Reader

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson Lady Tiger soccer team opened the 2007-08 season with a commanding 4-0 victory over the Liberty University Flames on Friday afternoon at Historic Riggs Field. The 19th-ranked Lady Tigers got on the board early and never let up, winning the game that was halted at the 75-minute mark due to lightning.

Clemson scored the first goal of the season in the 10th minute when senior Nuria Zufia put a header past Liberty keeper Ashley Nyholt off of a beautiful cross from sophomore Molly Franklin. Franklin had received a pass from Julie Bolt, took the ball deep into the box and sent a right-footed cross up where the 5’10” Zufia could head it gently into the bottom left corner.

The Lady Tigers netted their second goal of the match at the 25:20 mark. Julie Bolt received a through-ball from senior Courtney Foster, took one dribble and put the ball quickly into the left corner from about 15 yards past Nyholt, who had come up to clear the ball. Clemson took the 2-0 lead into halftime.

The Lady Tigers started an abbreviated second half by putting full pressure in the offensive end on Liberty’s defense. As a result, Clemson was able to force a corner kick and capitalize. Franklin served a perfect ball into the box on the kick and junior Molly Johnson headed it home in the 54th-minute. The fourth goal of the match was an own-goal by Liberty at the 72:24 mark.

“I was extremely happy with our play in the first 15-20 minutes of the game,” said Lady Tiger head coach Todd Bramble. “I felt like we got a bit complacent at the end of the first half, which we discussed at half time and were able to remedy in the second half. This is a good starting point for our season.”

“Julie Bolt played great out on the right side and I thought Molly Johnson was very dangerous out there today. It was great to see her score her first career regular season goal. We started two freshmen on defense and I thought they handled their first home game in front of a large crowd very well and did not give Liberty many scoring opportunities.”

Clemson opens the season at 1-0, while Liberty falls to 0-1. The Lady Tigers have three home games next week, beginning with a 7:00 p.m. match against Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, September 5 at Riggs Field.