Women’s Soccer Hosts the UNF Hampton Inn Ponte Vedra Showcase This Weekend

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida women's soccer team will host its second tournament of the season, the UNF Hampton Inn Ponte Vedra Showcase, at Hodges Stadium on Friday, Sept. 18, and Sunday, Sept. 20.

The Showcase will feature UNF (2-4-1), Mississippi State (6-0), The Citadel (3-3), and Atlantic Sun Conference foe Florida Gulf Coast (4-2-1).

Hodges Stadium will see a doubleheader of Osprey matches on Friday with the men's team playing their home opener against Georgia State at 5 p.m. and the women taking on Mississippi State at 7:30 p.m.

Mississippi State enters into UNF's tournament with a 6-0 overall record. The Bulldogs have eight starting returnees from last season and 11 newcomers. In 2008, MSU finished 5-15 overall and was 0-11 in the SEC. The last time these two teams met was in 2007 with MSU edging past the Ospreys 1-0.

“They (MSU) come from a strong conference and they're having a great year,” said head coach Linda Hamilton. “It's going to be a great game and it will be a great opportunity for us to show some of the things we can do.”

On Sunday, the Ospreys will take on The Citadel in the A-Sun's Game of the Week. This will be the first time in program history the Ospreys will face The Citadel who last season went 3-14-1 and 1-10 in the Southern Conference. Currently, they are 3-3 including a 14 goal win against Alabama State. The Citadel racked up 18 goals in its first two games but since then has only been able to find the net once in its last three matches.

The Ospreys tied against FAU last Friday, 1-1, and lost to FIU on Sunday, 2-1.

“Each week you find topics to work on based off of last week's performances,” said Hamilton. “This week during practice we have been focusing on being very competitive with each other, winning every 50/50 ball and putting it together offensively as well as the mentality that comes defensively. We hope that every time we're working out there we are moving towards the direction to get ready for conference play, but obviously we're playing good teams and that means we always have to be at our best. This weekend we hope to be on our toes and that the home crowd will give us that advantage.”

This past weekend senior midfielder Kristin Rhodes scored her first goal of the season and senior forward Katelin Swift scored her fifth goal of the season maintaining her position at No. 1 in goals (5), goals per game (.71), points (12), and points per game (1.71) in the A-Sun. The Ospreys are first in the A-Sun Conference in goals (14) and goals per game (2.00).

Women’s Soccer Hosts the UNF Hampton Inn Ponte Vedra Showcase This Weekend

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Women’s Soccer Hosts the UNF Hampton Inn Ponte Vedra Showcase This Weekend

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