Tash Hudson scored in the 73rd minute to equalize the match and earn the Charlotte 49ers women's soccer team a 1-1 tie with Richmond in the 49ers' home-opener of the 2022 season on Sunday evening (Aug. 21) at Transamerica Field.
The tally was Hudson's second in as many matches and was nearly equaled by a strike from Macey Bader that missed by inches in the 89th minute. Kelly Hastings picked up an assist on Hudson's tally after she flipped the field with a long ball over the Richmond defense. Emily Keck got the nod in goal again for the Green and White and made seven saves in the contest, including multiple at point-blank range late in the first half.
"We came out and competed today," head coach Brandi Fontaine said after the tie. "Unfortunately we gave up a goal but we haven't faced a team with a press like Richmond had. [Richmond] exploited some weaknesses, but that's what we need in order to learn and to grow. We're going to learn from this and keep getting better. I have no doubt we're going to progress out of this. We created some great opportunities and we just have to bury them. Once we start burying some of those goals, we'll find ourselves on the other side of the match more often."
Charlotte controlled play through the first 15 minutes, keeping the ball on Richmond's half of the pitch and putting two shots towards goal. The match took a turn just a few minutes later when the Spiders took advantage of a CLT miscue to open the scoring in the 22nd minute. The ball squirted free from Keck's feet in the box right to a Spider with a wide-open net in front of her for the goal.
Richmond had another quality scoring chance as a result of a corner in the 31st minute but Keck was there to make the stop on a shot from close in. Charlotte's best opportunity of the first half came when Ariana Maibodi got her foot on a cross from Braelynn Francher in the 40th minute. Francher was coming down the right wing and swung the ball into the box where Maibodi got behind the defense. Maibodi was able to get a foot on it to redirect it on net but the Richmond keeper was up to the task and kept the Niners off the board.
Charlotte had another opportunity in the final minute of the first half on a scramble in front of the goal. Kristy Campbell knocked the ball into the net but the referee determined the Spiders' keeper had enough possession of the ball before the shot to wave off the goal and keep it a 1-0 contest headed into the break.
Richmond looked like it had doubled its lead in the first minute of the second half with a quick goal but the play was whistled offside. After a flurry of chances for the Green and White midway through the second, the Niners finally broke through with Hudson's second goal of the season. Hastings picked up the ball in the defensive end and sent a long pass over the Richmond defenders and onto the boots of Hudson, who found the top right corner for the goal.
CLT kept the pressure on after the goal and came inches away from taking the lead in the final minutes. Bader was played out to the wing off of a one-touch pass and sent a shot from just outside the box that careened off the top of the crossbar up into the air and the hands of the Spider keeper with just over a minute remaining in the contest. The Niners kept the ball in the final third for the majority of the last minute after Bader's miss but couldn't register a shot on net as the match ended in a tie, 1-1.
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