UNF blanked by College of Charleston

Sunday, August 24

Charleston, SC

Noon

University of North Florida

College of Charleston

Junior Lauren Maze took one shot

8/24/2008 7:27:24 PM | Women's Soccer

Lady Ospreys outshot the Cougars, 8-5

By: Adam Jonson, UNF Athletics

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – Hope Atkinson's second half goal for the College of Charleston proved to be enough as the University of North Florida could not manage a goal on Sunday, falling to the Cougars, 1-0, in women's collegiate soccer action.

UNF (0-1-1) allowed just two shots on goal in the contest as senior keeper Rachael Howard made one save. Charleston (2-0-0) took five total shots and the Lady Ospreys took eight.

“We fought hard the whole 90 minutes,” UNF head coach Linda Hamilton said. “We must now take the things that we didn't do as well as we would have liked and make the corrections before our next match.”

Though the scoreboard showed no score at the end of the first half, the period certainly did not lack offensive activity. Charleston took three shots in the first 15 minutes, including two within a 10 second span. Howard made a great diving save on the first shot, and after the ball deflected into the box, a second shot was blocked by a Lady Osprey defender.

UNF senior Elena Luzins took two shots on goal in the first half before another spurt of offensive attacks in the final minute of the period. The Cougars threatened with a beautiful cross into the box at the one minute mark, but Howard left her feet to knock the ball away from the Cougar attackers. With 25 seconds remaining, UNF freshman Denisse Soltero took a shot from about 15 yards, which was narrowly batted away by Cougar keeper Erin Smith.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Soltero found another opportunity on a breakaway and placed a beautiful shot toward the top of the net. However, Smith leaped to barely deflect the shot, causing it to hit the crossbar.

Charleston scored the deciding goal with just under 21 minutes left to play when Hannah Gmerek served the ball into the box from the corner and Atkinson headed it past Howard.

“We had just made a substitution and I felt that we weren't quite back in our rhythm,” Hamilton said. “Give them credit for taking advantage of the situation.”

Junior Katelin Swift streaked down the left side of the field, and took a shot from 10 yards out with 16:50 remaining, but the shot went straight into Smith's arms. Smith finished with six saves.

“We had several opportunities to score,” Hamilton said. “But we just didn't finish them. We need to start taking advantages of our chances and minimize the chances we give our opponents.”

UNF returns to action at GeorgiaState on Sept. 5 before making its season debut at Hodges Stadium on Sept. 7 when it hosts Florida International.