CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- On a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon at Finley Stadium, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga bid farewell to three women's soccer players prior to its season finale 8-2 loss to The Citadel in Southern Conference action.

Melanie Arredondo (Tampico, Mexico), one of UTC's three seniors, scored her second goal in as many games while freshman Brandy Herrera (Nashville, Tenn.) connected on the first of her career.

The Citadel got on the board first with a goal at the 3:07 park from Vanessa Aponte who would eventually tally a hattrick for the Bulldogs. Mady Riegel got a shot in from the right side around Chattanooga keeper Elena Sanchez (Homestead, Fla.) who came out to make the save.

The Mocs would cut that lead in half less than a minute later when Arredondo picked up the ball inside the 18-yard box and sailed it into the upper left corner of the net to make it 2-1 at the 14:02 mark of the game.

The Citadel scored twice more, once off a corner, before the end of the first half after the Mocs lost Sanchez to injury. The freshman who normally plays defense on the field, stepped in to cover the net when freshman Hannah Dunn (Cookeville, Tenn.) was injured in the previous game.

Sanchez suffered an injury of her own when making a save to keep the Bulldogs to just two goals. She was relieved by sophomore Micalah Crafton (Portland, Tenn.) who normally plays midfield. She stepped in without any experience and no chance to warm up.

Aponte started the second half with her other two goals to make it 6-1 and Lea Raedle added her second of the game to put The Citadel up 7-1 with 34 minutes to play.

Herrera's goal came in a cleanup mode. She was in the box and picked up an errant ball off a corner kick and sent it up over the defense and the outstretched hand of Bulldog keeper Sam Millspaugh in the top middle of the goal to give the Mocs their second goal of the game.

Junior Clare Latham (Cordova, Tenn.) added two more assists to her team-high total for seven on the year. That ties her for fifth in a single season and she ranks sixth all-time with 12 over her career.

Sanchez recorded three saves for the Mocs while Crafton added three of her own. The Citadel (6-13-0, 2-7-0 SoCon) outshot the Mocs (1-16-1, 0-9-0 SoCon) 28-11 with a 14-6 shots on goal advantage.

The Mocs, seeded 10^th, will travel to Spartanburg, S.C., to take on No. 7 Wofford in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament. The Terriers are 6-10 overall and 3-6 in league play. Wofford shutout UTC 10-0 earlier this month in Spartanburg.

SCORING SUMMARY