CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga recorded its fourth shutout this season with a 1-0 win over The Citadel in Southern Conference women's soccer action Friday afternoon at the UTC Sports Complex. UTC improves to 5-1-1 overall and 4-1-1 in SoCon play. The Citadel is 7-8-2 on the year and 1-5 in league action.
 
"It's a huge win," Chattanooga head coach Gavin McKinney said. "The Citadel is a tough opponent."
 
Late in the first half, the Mocs attacked down the left side. Maggie Shaw fed the ball ahead to Maddie Burman who took it into the corner. On her second touch, she passed it into the box where Osa Iyare was calling for the ball. She caught it on her knee and instead of gathering it in, put it into the left side of the net.
 
"It was really good movement from Osa," McKinney said of his senior. "Attacking when the ball was in the wide area is something that we spoke to the girls about before the game. She did that and got into a good area and got in on the end of it, so great goal."
 
The Mocs defense recorded its fourth shutout this season and the second for Ashton Shields who had one save.
 
"That's been our identity over the last few years," McKinney said of his defense. "As a group, we work extremely hard when we don't have the ball."
 
The win moved the Mocs up one more spot in the SoCon standings to third behind Furman and Samford after the Bulldogs beat Mercer 2-1 tonight. Chattanooga is one point ahead of the Bears. The programs will face off in a pivotal game Sunday afternoon.
 
 
NOTES
- The Mocs beat The Citadel 1-0 … UTC improves to 5-1-1 overall and 4-1-1 in SoCon play … The Citadel falls to 7-8-2 on the year and 1-5 in league play.
 
- UTC improves to 13-5-1 against the Bulldogs and run its win streak against The Citadel to six games.
 
- Chattanooga is third overall in the SoCon standings, one point behind Samford and one point ahead of Mercer.
 
- Osa Iyare scored her first goal of the season … recorded the game winner.
 
- Ashton Shields has two complete saves this season and one combined … she has 14 career shutouts.
 
 
QUOTES – HEAD COACH GAVIN MCKINNEY
On the importance of today's win
"It's a huge win. The Citadel is a tough opponent. I think every year there's one goal in it between us. That's a big three points because now we're in a good position. We'll just have to keep taking care of business ourselves and hopefully at the end of these next three games we're in the position that we need to be to be in that top four rolling into the tournament.
 
On the Mocs goal
"It was really good movement from Osa, attacking when the ball was in the wide area is something that we spoke to the girls about before the game – that's our two center forwards and our attacking center mid getting into good areas in the box – she did that and she got in on the end of it so great goal."
 
On the defense
"That's been part of our identity over the last few years. Defensively, as a group, we work extremely hard when we don't have the ball. That's whether we're pressing in front of us or in our opponents dangerous moments when they're attacking. Our centerbacks and centermids do a great job of sniffing the ball out, winning headers when we need to and blocking shots. We need to keep that going, keep clean sheets, you're going to give yourself a chance to win every game, obviously."