CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The Chattanooga women's soccer team dropped a hard fought 1-0 decision to the College of Charleston Friday night at Patriot's Point in its Southern Conference opener. The loss was the first of the season for the Lady Mocs (5-1, 0-1 SoCon) who are off to their best start in school history.

"This was a great soccer game," UTC Head Coach J.D. Kyzer said. "We just came out on the wrong end. We had so many opportunities in the first half and so many opportunities in the second half."

Chattanooga outshot the Cougars 7-4 in the first half and the two teams held each other scoreless through the first half. However, the College of Charleston managed to score early in the second half and the goal would stand to give the Cougars (5-3-1, 1-0 SoCon) the win.

Alyssa Bearden scored her second goal of the season grabbing a steal and taking a shot from 25 yards out at the 57:56 mark of the game for the game winner.

"It was a long shot from way out. It wasn't a set up or a combination play," Kyzer said. "They played a lot of long balls and this one found its way through."

The Cougars edged Chattanooga in shots 10-9 and held a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks. Of UTC's nine shots, five were on goal, all saved by Charleston's keeper Sarah Wiggers. Lady Mocs' freshman keeper Taylor Davidson (Ooltewah, Tenn.) managed five saves on the night.

UTC freshman forward Becca Smith (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) has a game-high three shots with one on goal while sophomore Donna-Kay Henry (Queens Village, N.Y.) had two shots with one on goal.

"We accomplished our goal of coming out and having a great first 20 minutes. We did that," Kyzer said. "If we could have scored early it would have changed the tempo of the game very quickly."

The Lady Mocs will remain in Charleston to take on The Citadel in a Sunday afternoon matchup set to kick off at 2 p.m. UTC is 7-0-1 against the Bulldogs.