UTC’s Chloe Arnold now tied for NCAA lead with five goals

Chloe Arnold told the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga soccer coaches in the offseason that she had missed out on some opportunities to score last season, although she was named the Southern Conference freshman of the year.

She’s making up for that now — in a big way.

Arnold is tied for the NCAA women’s lead in goals scored with five and is 10th in goals per game at 1.25 for the 3-1 Mocs, who host Georgia State tonight at Finley Stadium and play at Lipscomb on Sunday.

“She told us she felt she should have doubled her goal count last year,” UTC coach Gavin McKinney said of Arnold, who had seven goals in 2017. “She felt she got in really good areas and we created a number of really good chances for her, so something she really focused on throughout the spring was being more clinical in the final area, and she’s done that so far.

“It’s been a flying start for her.”

It’s also been one for the Mocs, who are off to their best start since a 4-0 beginning to the 2009 season. They have three more nonconference matches before starting SoCon play at home against Mercer on Sept. 21.

Volleyball at home

Coming off a tough but promising opening weekend in Knoxville, the UTC volleyball team is hosting the Chattanooga Classic this weekend at Maclellan Gym. The Mocs take on UNC-Asheville, Tennessee State and North Alabama in the two-day event, starting with a match tonight at 6.

The Mocs went 1-2 at the Tennessee Classic, but the losses came to 22nd-ranked Michigan State and the host Lady Vols. UTC defeated Belmont 3-0.