Lady Ospreys keep perfect A-Sun mark

Sunday, September 28

Jacksonville, Fla.

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

East Tennessee State University

Junior Kady Dearing assisted her second goal of the season

9/28/2008 5:32:49 PM | Women's Soccer

UNF travels to Mercer and Kennesaw State this weekend

By: Adam Jonson, UNF Athletics

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Second-half goals by senior Elena Luzins and junior Katelin Swift fueled the University of North Florida women's soccer team to a 2-1 win in Sunday's Atlantic Sun Conference match against East Tennessee State, keeping the Lady Ospreys' conference record perfect.

UNF (5-5-1, 2-0-0 A-Sun) found itself in an early hole when ETSU (2-6-0, 1-1-0) struck within the first five minutes of play. Rachel Van Horn rebounded a shot by Jordan Monty to score her second goal of the season and give the Bucs a 1-0 early edge. UNF keeper Erica Lippitt made a save on Monty's shot, but the ball ricocheted off the crossbar back into the box, where Van Horn took advantage of the scoring opportunity.

“We made a mistake and the ball wound up in the back of the net,” UNF head coach Linda Hamilton said. “ETSU is a good team with a lot of size and talent, and they are very good at making long serves.”

The Bucs sailed into halftime with their one-goal lead, but UNF battled back in the second half, controlling the pace of the match. Thirteen minutes after the break, the Lady Ospreys evened the score.

Luzins netted her third goal of the season after taking a pass from junior Kady Dearing. The pass was made from outside the left side of the box, and Luzins, standing in the center of the box, punched it in from 10 yards. The assist was Dearing's second of the season.

“Our crowd had a lot to do with the way responded after we got behind early,” Hamilton said. “Their presence had an impact on the match. When we scored our first goal, the girls calmed down and realized that we could play our game and come out on top.”

After almost 20 minutes of scoreless play, the Lady Ospreys took the lead and never looked back. ETSU keeper Megan Masch lost control of the ball on the right side of the goal, and Swift made the mistake costly. Nearly on the baseline, she bent a shot toward the goal, and despite the Bucs' best defensive effort, the ball cleared the posts, putting UNF on top, 2-1. Swift now has eight goals, four-game winners, this season.

Lippitt made her sixth start of the season and improved her record to 4-2-0. In Sunday's contest, she made five saves and allowed one goal, but saw much more action than the record indicates. She played a pivotal role in the back of the Lady Osprey defensive unit, distributing balls to lead attacks and retrieving ETSU serves.

“Erica improves every match,” Hamilton said. “She played on the field some for us last year, so she is very talented with her feet. She takes some pressure off our backfield because we have confidence in her to go out and make plays with her feet.”

The Lady Ospreys remain idle until the end of the week, when they make their first conference road trip of the season. UNF will visit Mercer on Friday before facing Kennesaw State on Sunday.

“We are relieved to be able to have an entire week to prepare for our next weekend of conference play,” Hamilton said. “We went through an extremely tough non-conference schedule to start the season, and hopefully that readied us for the competition we will see in A-Sun play.”