Lady Ospreys blow past Pirates

Aug. 21, 2005

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - University of North Florida senior forward Ali Blochl tallied a goal and an assist to help the UNF women's soccer team earn a 5-0 win over Armstrong Atlantic State on

Sunday afternoon at the UNF Soccer Stadium.

With the win, the Lady Ospreys improved to 2-0-0 during their exhibition season after downing Rollins 2-1 on Aug. 14.

While the Lady Ospreys fell behind early in their first exhibition match of the season, the UNF squad came out firing in their final tune-up before diving into the regular season on Friday.

Junior forward Christine Brewer got the Lady Ospreys on the board early by turning a Lena Mullaney pass into a goal when she powered the ball past Armstrong Atlantic goalkeeper Tarra Kohler and found the back corner of the net to give UNF a 1-0 lead just 7:18 into the match.

UNF freshman Elizabeth Gowan gave the Lady Ospreys a little more of a cushion when she weaved past three Pirate defenders to tally her third goal of the preseason and give UNF a 2-0 lead at the 30:15 mark of the match.

The Lady Ospreys took a 3-0 lead when senior midfielder Tessa Heer headed a Blochl corner kick into the net at the 51:05 mark of play.

Nicole Handy and Blochl added unassisted goals at the 76:42 and 90:00 marks of the match, respectively, to close out the scoring and give the Lady Ospreys the 5-0 win.

"Even though we were able to score pretty quickly and put a lot of points up on the board, I felt like we started slower than we should have," UNF head coach Mike Munch said. "I just didn't feel like the effort was where it needed to be and where it's going to have to be in order for us to compete this season, but even in saying that it was still a win. I just hope our girls see that we are going to have to really put forth a lot more effort from the very start of every match."

UNF got a solid performance from freshman goalkeeper Rachael Howard. Howard tallied eight saves, including six in the first half of play, to notch the shutout win.

"I thought Rachael played well," Munch said. "There were several times there early in the match where we put her in situations where she had to make plays and she made the plays. I was pleased with her effort in goal."

The Pirates outshot UNF 13-12.

Blochl led the offensive attack for UNF with three shots. The senior also led UNF in scoring with three points. Claire McCombe led the effort for Armstrong Atlantic with four shots.

The Lady Ospreys will open the regular season on Friday by playing host to McNeese State. The match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at the UNF Soccer Stadium.

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