Women’s Soccer Hosts Stetson in First Round A-Sun Tournament Match

2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Women's Soccer Tournament Bracket

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida women's soccer team is set to make its first appearance in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament when it hosts Stetson in a first-round quarterfinal matchup Saturday at Hodges Stadium at 7 p.m. (ET).

The Ospreys (7-10, 6-4 A-Sun), the No. 3 seed in the tournament, will take on the No. 6 seed Hatters (7-10-1, 4-5-1 A-Sun), making its eighth consecutive appearance in the tournament, in a rematch of both school's regular season opener earlier this year. In that match on Sept. 17, North Florida defeated Stetson with a 1-0 decision beneath the lights at Hodges Stadium.

The winner of the Stetson and North Florida match will move on to the semifinals, hosted by No. 1 Jacksonville, where it will meet No. 2 Mercer on Thursday, Nov. 4. No. 4 Kennesaw State and No. 5 East Tennessee State will play in the other quarterfinal Saturday at 7 p.m. in Kennesaw, Ga. with that winner playing Jacksonville in the semifinals.

Despite dropping its last two regular season matches, the Ospreys have won four of its last six contests by a combined score of 9-2. North Florida is no stranger to close matches during the 2010 campaign as the squad has claimed five of its seven wins by just one goal and, unfortunately, dropped nine of its 10 losses by just one goal as well. Regardless, the Ospreys have put together one of its best seasons in program history competing in the A-Sun, blanking four of its 10 opponents in six wins, falling three times by just one goal and tying a school record for A-Sun wins in a season – the 2007 squad finished 6-5.

In Stetson's last five matches, the squad is 1-3-1 with the Hatter's lone victory coming against Lipscomb who is last-place in the conference and finished 0-10 in league play this season. The Osprey defense will look to slow down Stetson's scoring threats as the Hatters rank as the conference's second-most potent offense (28 goals in all games; 17 in conference play). North Florida has shutout three of its six conference opponents at Hodges Stadium this year, including Stetson earlier this season.

In the all-time series between the two schools, North Florida holds a 4-2 advantage and has claimed two of the three matches at Hodges Stadium from the Hatters. The series started in 2005 with the two teams squaring off once in the regular season each year since. This is the first postseason match between Stetson and the Ospreys – two teams that tend to battle to the final whistle when playing each other.

Five of the six matches between the two squads have been decided by just one goal. Stetson last defeated North Florida on Oct. 9, 2009, winning by a score of 4-2 in DeLand, Fla. – the only multi-goal victory in the series history. However, the Hatters have struggled to escape Jacksonville with a win over the Ospreys, falling in two of the three matches at Hodges Stadium and have currently dropped two consecutive matches (2008, '10). The Ospreys edged the Hatters, 2-1, in overtime on Oct. 12, 2008.

North Florida has been outscoring conference foes 20-14 and 15-11 at home. The Ospreys' season-long stifling defense is a credit to that as it has kept opponents from having many opportunities to score, allowing just three of 17 opponents this year to outshoot North Florida. Over the last 14 matches, North Florida has at least equaled its opponents in shots taken and outshot opponents in 11 of those 14.

Offensively, the Ospreys have had eight different players score goals on the year with four players scoring two or more this season. Freshmen forwards Carolina Lencina and Lauren Hopfensperger, recently tabbed First-Team All-Atlantic Sun, All-Freshman and Lencina being named Freshman of the Year, have led the squad offensively, netting six and 10 goals, respectively.

Lencina finished the 2010 regular season ranking fifth in the conference in all matches in points with 17, goals (six), and was sixth in assists with five. In conference play, the Buenos Aires, Argentina native was third in shots (32), points (14), goals (five) and ranked fourth in game-winning goals with two.

Furthermore, Lencina also led the team in assists (five), shots (36) and shots on goal (19). The rookie was named Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week (Sept. 20) for her efforts against Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast, scoring two gamewinners.

Hopfensperger wrapped up her 2010 regular season campaign leading the conference in all matches in goals with 10 and game-winning goals with four. In conference play, the St. Augustine, Fla., native led the A-Sun in goals with eight, points (16) and was second with three game-winning goals.

In addition, Hopfensperger led the team in goals (10), points (20) and game-winning goals (four). The first-year forward also had three multi-goal matches, connected on 10-of-18 shots on goal and currently ranks 10th in school history for goals in a season.

Admission to the contest is $3.00 for children 12 years of age and under, $2.00 for senior citizens, $5.00 for general public. North Florida and Stetson students may enter free of charge with a student ID.

The match will be streamed live on ASun.TV as the Atlantic Sun Conference announced Thursday, Oct. 28 to offer coverage of all fall championship events free of charge.

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