The longest-tenured head coach in the Presbyterian College athletic department, Blue Hose women’s soccer director Brian Purcell awaits the start of his 34th season in charge of the program on Thursday evening.
PC’s 17th year as an NCAA Division I member begins with a 7:00 p.m. tussle against Furman at Martin Stadium before traveling to Kennesaw State on Sunday for the squad’s first road bout.
Returning 21 letter-winners and approximately seven starters from a team that finished the ’22 campaign as strong as anyone in the Big South, Purcell and co. will compete against the Paladins for the 15th time and KSU for the third occasion. Both contests will be streamed live via ESPN+.
GAMEDAY INFO – THURSDAY, AUG. 17
Presbyterian vs. Furman – 7:00 PM (Martin Stadium)
WATCH – ESPN+
LIVE STATS – StatBroadcast
GAMEDAY INFO – SUNDAY, AUG. 20
Presbyterian at Kennesaw State – 6:00 PM (Kennesaw, Ga.)
LIVE STATS – StatBroadcast
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT - FURMAN
- Thursday evening will denote the seventh time that the Blue Hose have cracked open a schedule versus Furman, starting off the slate with their Greenville rival for the third consecutive season and fifth time since 2017.
- Presbyterian has yet to defeat the Paladins in Clinton, with their last attempt drifting to a 3-0 loss in 2021. Furman would repeat that result in their own backyard 12 months ago, the first of eight victories on the season for longtime head coach Andrew Burr.
- Despite an efficient start last fall (which included a four-match winning streak in September next to a combined margin of 11-1), the Paladins stumbled down the stretch where they’d take either a tie or outright loss in seven of their last eight appearances.
- This included a 2-1 season-ending setback to Wofford in the opening round of the SoCon Tournament. Furman has been selected sixth in the preseason league poll by SoCon coaches, touting senior midfielder Nieva Gaither with an all-conference nod behind career totals of 16 goals and 20 assists (52 points).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT – KENNESAW STATE
- Meeting the Owls on a much less frequent basis, the Blue Hose will tangle with Kennesaw for the second straight campaign after their inaugural affair in 2019. Both prior matchups tilted to the Peach State club, as PC looks to avenge a 2-1 loss at home last September.
- Although then-freshman Sloan Spees evened the odds at the 54:35 mark with one of her five goals as a rookie (enough to grant her postseason Big South honors), KSU provided the game-winner with 11 minutes left on the clock, their first of seven wins in 2022.
- Head coach Benji Walton’s unit earned a W in three of their last four regular season games (including a 6-1 beatdown over Stetson), but couldn’t guide that momentum into any postseason success after falling to Eastern Kentucky in the first round of the ASUN tourney.
- The Owls have been picked fourth in the conference’s coaches poll for the second straight year, bolstered by forward Macie Rainwater on the all-ASUN roster thanks to 11 strikes in her first two seasons with the program.
2022 BLUE HOSE RECAP
- Faced with a high level of adversity through the majority of the ’22 stretch, PC concluded the fall calendar on a supreme high by besting High Point and UNC Asheville in back-to-back bouts four days apart. Defeating the Panthers 2-1 and the Bulldogs 1-0, the Blue Hose collected that trio of goals from three separate players, two of which are returnees Reyna Coston and Spees.
- That duo has synced up for nine connections in their PC tenure, just two examples of the many familiar faces who were contributors a year ago. Altogether, coach Purcell boasts 10 upperclassmen and seven sophomores who all saw plenty of field opportunities during their first go-rounds.
- At the goalkeepers’ spot, Presbyterian harbors three capable options in Kelly Hall, Mackenzie Azuero, and freshman Emma Cooke. The former two added up for 87 saves last season, as Hall picked up the aforementioned consecutive W’s while she ascended to a selection on the All-Big South Academic Team.
PC Athletics here.
CLINTON, S.C. – A crushing case of “right place, right time” 10 minutes into the second period turned out to be the sole difference in Thursday night’s 2023 opener for the Presbyterian College women’s soccer team, dropping a well-fought 1-0 decision to rival Furman at Martin Stadium.
On a humid evening that saw PC take the role of aggressor through most of the first 45 minutes, the battle of keepers Kelly Hall and Addison Corn was ultimately won by the latter thanks to the aforementioned 55:22 connection from the visitors.
Head coach Brian Purcell – who began his 34th season in charge of the program on Thursday – guided a determined attack who outgunned the Paladins in the shots department 10-8. Unfortunately for the home side, none of those tries came to fruition in the first bout of the school’s 17th Division I slate.
PC will go back and forth between hosting and visiting duties for the first six meetings in the fall, now setting their sites on Kennesaw State this Sunday in a 6:00 PM start.
FINAL SCORE: Furman, 1 – Presbyterian, 0
RECORDS: Presbyterian (0-1) – Furman (1-0)
LOCATION: Edens Field at Martin Stadium (Clinton, S.C.)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Gaining a 6-4 edge in shot tries over the first period, the Blue Hose nearly struck before the contest had even reached its five-minute point on a high archer from sophomore Hannah Austin that was snagged down by Corn. Put together, the Paladins’ goalie and Hall added up for five saves and a host of other smart-minded defensive triggers.
- Sloan Spees, Ella Williams, and newbie Emma Brown all took turns at the net before the first-half buzzer roared, although a stalemate after 45 minutes left the in-state foes thirsty to break the tie.
- A pair of PC corner kicks within the second stanza’s opening moments caused some doubt for the Paladins as to whether they could sustain the steadfast movement from the Blue Hose’s offensive sets. However, the tone of the contest shifted with 35 minutes to go once Furman cashed in on an unorthodox goal that turned into the game-winner.
- Valentina Mosquera booted a deflected cross past Hall’s reach to grant the visitors the one-score victory, holding on from there behind a more concerted defensive effort with the lead in their back pocket.
- Spees (a 2022 all-conference representative) accounted for Presbyterian’s last shot of the night that sailed a touch too high of the mark, rendering Furman’s heretical strike as the lone cash-in from the rivalry affair.
- Five of Purcell’s squad made their official college debuts on Thursday, including Lina-Marie Müller and Lyla Chadd who did so in the starting lineup, while junior midfielder Sarah Dieffenderfer completed her long-awaited return to the field after missing the entirety of last fall due to injury.
UP NEXT
- A trip to Kennesaw awaits the Blue Hose at the tail end of the weekend for an encounter with the Owls, hoping to avenge a 2-1 defeat at Martin Stadium 12 months ago in what was a frenetic second-half pace.
- KSU dueled with ETSU on Thursday evening to the tune of a scoreless tie, leaving both upcoming opponents in search of their first check in the win column 72 hours from now.
- Opening touch in Georgia is scheduled for 6:00 PM in the first of two matchups on PC’s radar versus an ASUN member.
