DEMOREST, Ga. --- Asbury women's soccer (1-7-4) traveled to Demorest, Ga., on Saturday morning to take on Piedmont University (7-5-4), the No. 3 ranked team in the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS). Asbury and the CCS announced last week that the Eagles will become an official member of the conference July 1, 2024.

In the Saturday morning road matchup Asbury's aggressive offense was kept scoreless as Piedmont took the win, 0-2, in the second ever matchup between the two schools.

AU was able to out-shoot the Lions, putting together 17 shots with six of those shots on goal compared to Piedmont's seven shots with three on goal. 

Violette Moore tallied another solid game in goal for Asbury with a save and just two goals. Freshman Maggie Higdon led the Eagles offensivley in shot attempts with five.

Diedra Long and Payton Ardery followed Higdon in shots with three apiece. Two of Ardery's three shots were able to land as SOG (shot on goal) attempts.

Caroline Absher, Reese Bolton, Peighton Sowder, Maggie Higdon all were able to land SOG attempts as well.

Asbury got the game started early with shot attempts from Diedra Long, Payton Ardery, and Maggie Higdon within the first ten minutes of action that couldn't find back net and the game stayed 0-0.

Piedmont's goalkeeper, Haylee Dornan, had a fantastic day holding off the Asbury attack, recording five saves in 90 minutes. Higdon took the only two other shots throughout the rest of the first half as the game went into a break tied at 0-0.

The Eagles defense was very impressive in the first half, not allowing a single shot attempt from the Lions who came into the match with five wins and two ties in their last seven.

Piedmont was able to come out of the second half attacking and scored the first goal of the match in the 48th minute off the foot of Paige Kluba to take a 1-0 lead.

The Eagles responded with three straight shot attempts coming from Maggie Higdon, Payton Ardery, and Deidra Long. Reese Bolton followed up with her own shot that barely missed, hitting the crossbar to keep the game at 0-1.

AU put several attacks together but couldn't get one to land in the net on the day.

Caroline Absher put a SOG attempt in the 59th minute to keep the pressure on the Lions defense. Piedmont responded right after Absher's attempt with a goal from Sophie Wells to take thier lead to 2-0.
 
Violette Moore collected a very nice save in the 77th minute for her first of the match. The AU defense was yet again very solid on the morning and has been a consistent tool for the team to use. 

Maggie Higdon, Peighton Sowder, Anna Sparks, and Caroline Absher each had shot attempts in the last ten minutes to put together a push for the Eagles but came up short and the match ended 0-2 in favor of Piedmont.

Asbury will next be in action Thursday night in Maryville, Tn., to take on Maryville College at 6 PM.


* Maggie Higdon | 5 SH, 1 SOG
* Payton Ardery | 3 SH, 2 SOG
* Deidra Long | 3 SH
* Caroline Absher | 1 SH, 1 SOG
* Peighton Sowder | 1 SH, 1 SOG
* Reese Bolton | 1 SH, 1 SOG
* Violette Moore | 1 SV


* Asbury recorded 17 shots with six on goal, giving themselves a SOG percentage of 35%.
* The Eagles committed nine fouls on the night.
* Asbury collected six CK.
* AU collected one save.


Asbury's next match will be Thursday when they travel to Maryville, Tn., to take on Maryville College at 6 PM.


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