The Charlotte women’s soccer team had its final non-conference game on Sept. 20, shutting out North Carolina State, 1-0.   

Midfielder Kirby Stenard scored the game-winning goal in the 56th minute off a corner kick from fellow midfielder Sam Huecker.

For Stenard, this was not only her third goal of the season, but also her second straight game-winning goal. The first was on Sept. 18, part of a 4-0 rout over East Tennessee.

She also fired two shots on goal, though only one made it past Wolfpack goalkeeper Kim Kern. Kern saved two of the 11 shots taken by the 49ers. The eight missed shots by Charlotte (6-2-0) included an opportunity by Stenard that went over the posts.

The 49er defense allowed five shots (one on goal) in as many shut-out matches.

This was goalkeeper Lauren Brown’s fourth shutout of the season and 23rd of her career.

Atlantic 10 champions in the past three seasons, Charlotte will open up its conference schedule against Duquesne.

A-10 conference play will start on Sept. 25 for all teams.

Temple struggling without Conn’s offense

For the first six games of the season, Temple rode sophomore Niki Conn’s scoring as she led it to a 4-1-1 record. In the last two games, the midfielder’s production has been low, and the Owls had no other scoring threats.

Temple (4-3-1) lost two straight matches to Niagara and Binghamton last week, marking its first losses since it lost to Villanova on August 21.

Conn’s six goals lead the A-10 this season but none of those goals came in the Owls’ last two games, when offensive production was at an alarming low.

The Bearcats limited Conn to one shot in the game in their 3-1 win over the Owls. Despite Conn’s absence, freshman Morgyn Seigfried stepped up and scored her second goal of the season.

Sophomore Allicia Yurkovic provided the offensive effort for Temple against Niagara with a pivotal late goal.

Without Conn’s impact, Temple still out-shot the Purple Eagles, 10-3.

With conference play on the horizon, the Owls hope for Conn to come back to her striking ways on Sept. 25 when they face Dayton, who is undefeated in non-conference play.

Saint Joseph’s hand Syracuse their second straight loss

Saint Joseph’s junior Maggie Lupinski, landed the ball between the posts in the 79th minute to give the Hawks their only goal needed to defeat Syracuse, 1-0.

The loss is the Orange’s second straight.

Midfielder Lauren Sutcliffe set up Lupinski, who only played during the second half.

Freshman goalkeeper Christine Neal finished the game with four saves.

Syracuse failed to score despite its nine shots on goal .

In its last five games, the Orange (3-4-2) had three wins and two draws going into last Friday.

The Hawks (3-3-2) will travel to Amherst on Friday to play Massachusetts.

Herb Scribner can be reached at [email protected].