University of North Florida
East Tennessee State
Women’s Soccer Blanks East Tennessee State, 2-0
10/1/2010 10:11:55 PM | Women's Soccer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Freshman forward Lauren Hopfensperger struck twice to lead the North Florida women's soccer team (4-8, 3-2 A-Sun) to a 2-0 shutout victory over East Tennessee State (6-4-1, 2-2 A-Sun) Friday night at Hodges Stadium. With the win, the Ospreys equaled its best Atlantic Sun Conference start since 2007 when the squad also began conference play with a 3-2 record.
“It's a great win for us,” head coach Linda Hamilton said. “We always want to try to win at home. It also puts us back over .500 in conference play. Our goal right now is to make the conference tournament, and I think you need four or five wins to assure yourself a spot so a win like this moves us one step closer. East Tennessee State, in any given moment, can score a goal or two so our girls did a great job defensively. I think [ETSU] has a fantastic goalkeeper and she made some outstanding saves tonight. It was an important win for us to start the weekend off on a positive note.“
After a scoreless first half, Hopfensperger ended the drought in the 70th minute off an assist from junior forward Denisse Soltero from the left side of the goalie box. It was Soltero's second assist on the year.
The St. Augustine, Fla., native found the back of the net for the second time on the night in the 86th minute from just inside the penalty box. Freshman midfielder Keara Murphy picked up the assist on the goal, her second of the season. The goal was the fifth of the season for Hopfenseperger, which leads not only the team, but also ties her atop the leaderboard in goals in the A-Sun Conference.
The consistently stifling North Florida defense and sophomore goalkeeper Brittany Hahn shutdown East Tennessee State, the A-Sun's top scoring offense, and allowed just eight shots (four on target).
In each of the three conference wins, the Ospreys have shutout its opponent. It is also the third shutout of the year for North Florida and first multi-goal victory.
For the last nine matches, North Florida has at least equaled its opponents in shots taken and outshot opponents in seven of those nine. The Ospreys bettered the Buccaneers in the category tonight, 18-8.
“We're trying to win games,” Hamilton said. “We're not trying to not lose. We're really looking to go out and win games. We like to be aggressive and attack, and we've cleaned a bit on the defensive end. Our defenders and goalkeeper are doing a great job. It's not always pretty, but we're finding ways to keep opposing shots out of the net.”
North Florida's freshmen forward Carolina Lencina and midfielder Heather Botelho tallied a match-high four shots each, while senior forward Rachel Van Horn led the East Tennessee State squad with three shots, two on goal.
North Florida returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 3, as the squad aims for its second consecutive A-Sun victory. The women will face off against USC Upstate with kickoff scheduled for a 2 p.m. start at Hodges Stadium.
