Charleston (West Va.) (0-5-0)

After a disappointing 0-3 start to the season, Ashland women’s soccer head coach Glenn Francis made a lineup change for the Sept. 12 home opener against Charleston (West Va.).

Francis changed six starters from the squad he put out in the previous match, a 3-1 loss to Davis and Elkins. The change worked, as the Eagles scored two first half goals in a 2-0 victory.

“I was just sending a message for one reason or the other,” Francis said. “Complacency’s not going to be good enough. We’ve got to get the job done.”

Sophomore forward Kelsey Dropsey and junior midfielder Deanna Gundling scored the goals in a span of less than four minutes midway through the first period.

After a back-and-forth first ten minutes, Ashland controlled much of the first half with a 10-1 edge in shots.

Dropsey found the breakthrough in the 22nd minute when she was able to control a loose ball inside the box.

In a one-on-one situation, she calmly struck a shot with the inside of her right foot that took a deflection off the keeper and bounced all the way into the back of the net.

Ashland kept the pressure on after scoring and made the Golden Eagles pay again in the 26th minute. Freshman forward/midfielder Allison Richards struck a shot from outside the penalty area that was too hot for Charleston goalkeeper Courtney Budd to handle.

Budd let the shot bounce out of her hands inside the six-yard box, where Gundling was waiting to pounce. Gundling got her head to the ball before it hit the ground, sending it past Budd to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

Junior goalkeeper Karly Beuck got her first start of the year in place of junior Rebecca Plescia, but she did not see much action. Beuck was forced to make just three saves to preserve Ashland’s first clean sheet of 2012.

The second half was largely defensive, and Francis said he would have liked to have seen his team play with more intensity with the lead.

“We started looking at the scoreboard instead of playing the game for what it is,” he said.

The Eagles shot seven times in the second period and finished with a 17-5 advantage in total shots.

One area of concern for AU is the midfield, especially after losing sophomore spark plug Lexi Gruich to a knee injury.

“Slow,” Francis said when asked how the midfield is coming along. “But, it’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint.”

Richards and freshman Bethany Lang looked dangerous in attack along with Dropsey and Gundling, as did sophomore forward Kathleen Demaree.

Francis was glad to see a total team effort in the Eagles’ first victory.

“Having a home-cooked meal does wonders for the wins and losses,” he said.

At No. 3 GVSU (5-0-1, 1-0-0)

The Eagles went back on the road Friday to take on national power Grand Valley State. The Lakers were ranked No. 3 coming into the match and are fresh off of a season in which they were national runners-up and beat Ashland in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship game.

Eight starters are back from that Lakers team.

Friday’s match was the GLIAC opener for both teams, and GVSU picked up right where it left off, with a 2-0 victory over the Eagles.

Ashland held the Lakers scoreless in the first half, no small feat considering GVSU held a 6-0 advantage in shots.

GVSU’s Erin Hilbert found the breakthrough less than two minutes into the second half when she headed a cross into the right side of the goal.

Charlie Socia widened the Lakers’ lead in the 71st minute when her corner kick was deflected by and Ashland defender and crossed the line for a goal.

Hilbert and Socia’s goals were part of a second-half barrage of 15 shots by GVSU. The Eagles fired just three times.

Beuck made 12 saves on 15 GVSU shots that were on target, and one shot was saved off the line by an AU defender.

Freshman defender/midfielder Carly Joliat was the only Eagle to put a shot on target.

At Ferris State (2-3-1, 1-1-1)

After spending Saturday night watching the football team defeat Ferris State, the Eagles hoped they could do the same to the Bulldogs Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately, two first half goals by Riley Wood doomed Ashland in a 3-0 loss.

Wood scored the first goal just over ten minutes in, looping a header over Beuck off of a cross by Stephanie Garland.

She scored her second in the 40th minute off of an assist by Casey Shauman.

Francis always says that he has two number-one goalkeepers in Beuck and Plescia, and after the second goal he opted to sub in Plescia for the rest of the match.

Both keepers ended up making one save apiece on five shots the Bulldogs put on goal.

Ashland also put five shots on target, all of which were saved. Lang, Richards, Dropsey, junior midfielder/defender Melissa Hill and freshman defender/midfielder Alexandra Kovarik all had shots that were on frame.

Five yellow cards were handed out in the match, four of which went to the Eagles.

Ashland is on the road again this weekend, playing at Findlay Friday and at Tiffin Sunday. AU will return home the following weekend, playing Saginaw Valley State 7 p.m. Sept. 28 and Malone 1 p.m. Sept. 30 to begin a five-game stretch of home conference matches.