VMI women’s soccer defeats Hampton 16-0

LEXINGTON, Va. (Via VMI) – The VMI Keydets set new Southern Conference records for goals, points and assists, had 12 different players tally at least one point and defeated the Hampton Lady Pirates, 16-0, in non-conference women’s soccer action Tuesday at VMI’s Patchin Field. The Keydets (1-1) added 14 assists to their 16 goals for a total of 46 points, the 17th-highest single-game total in Division I history.

VMI took a 7-0 lead into halftime, and it only grew from there. The Keydets scored three goals in the span of 1:17 early in the second half, the fifth-fastest three-goal run in Division I history, to put the lead into double digits.

Kristen Whitehurst then broke the school and SoCon goals scored records in the 68th minute, giving the Keydets 14 markers, and Whitehurst and Kayla Blake added on in the final minutes to account for the final margin.

Whitehurst and Sydnie Bligh led VMI with four goals each, a mark that tied the previous school record that had been accomplished just twice before. Sam Boney chipped in with a hat trick and two assists for her first collegiate points, and freshman Olivia Cotton tied the VMI record with three assists, despite playing only 29 minutes.

Hampton fell to 0-3 with the loss. The Lady Pirates, a first-year program, began the game with just 10 players on the field, and were forced to play as few as eight in the second half due to injuries.

Whitehurst got the Keydets on the board in the second minute, driving a high smash through the hands of emergency goalkeeper Violet Adams. Adams had been pressed into service before the game, and she would hold steady until the 11th minute. Keniya Lee, making her collegiate debut, crossed the ball from the right flank into the middle for Blake Cashin, who finished to make it a 2-0 game. It was Cashin’s first collegiate goal.

Bligh (17th minute), Cashin (21st) and Eryn Daman (23rd) added on to make it a 5-0 contest, and Boney opened her scoring with a tally in the 28th minute that made it 6-0. Boney then added on in the 35th minute to push the margin to 7-0, and Hampton lost two players due to injury with just a handful of minutes left in the half.

The Keydets added on early and often in the second half. VMI scored four goals in a span of 2:23 early in the half, including a three-goal run from 49:37 to 50:54 that included two goals by Bligh and another by Emma Quirk.

That three-goal push, covering 1:17 on the game clock, stands as the fifth-fastest three consecutive goals in Division I history. Cotton assisted on the last tally, giving her three helpers to tie the school record in that category.

Meanwhile, Bligh had scored the first of the aforementioned four goals as well. Her three-goal run in 2:23 of game action put her just 21 seconds shy of the fastest a Division I player had ever scored three goals. That record is held by US Soccer legend and Florida alumna Abby Wambach.

It was 11-0 when Boney completed her hat trick in the 64th minute to make it 12-0, and Whitehurst nearly completed the scoring with three straight goals, tallying in the 65th, 68th and 69th minutes to wrap up her four-goal day. Blake capped the scoring in the 84th minute by kicking the ball through a sliding Adams for her first goal as a Keydet.

All told, the 16 goals, 14 assists and 56 shots broke the previous school records, all of which had been set against West Virginia Tech in 2005. The previous conference record for goals scored was 13, set by Chattanooga in 2004, a game in which the Mocs had a SoCon-record 38 points.

The previous SoCon record of 12 assists, accomplished four times previously, also fell to the Keydets Tuesday afternoon. The four goals by Bligh and Whitehurst made them the 12th and 13th players, respectively, in SoCon history to tally four goals in a game.

In addition, VMI held Hampton without a shot attempt, which marked the first time in program history that the Keydets had not allowed an opponent to try a shot. The Keydets officially outshot the Lady Pirates 56-0.

Adams was credited with 14 saves in emergency goalkeeping duty, while Liz Nickerson, Emily Marbury and Ceci Keppeler shared the 90 minutes in net for VMI. Nickerson’s start was her first action since 2013.

VMI women’s soccer will return to action Friday, when the Keydets travel to Annapolis, Md. to take on Navy. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.