University of North Florida
Francis Marion
Women’s Soccer Rallies to 4-3 Victory over Francis Marion
9/10/2010 10:35:25 PM | Women's Soccer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three goals in the final 15 minutes propelled the North Florida women's soccer team to its first victory of the season, defeating Francis Marion, 4-3, Friday night at Hodges Stadium. With the win, the Ospreys improve to 1-5 on the year, while the Patriots drop to 2-6-1.
“Obviously, we've been looking for [the win] for the last several games and it certainly feels good to get a little bit of a monkey off our back,” head coach Linda Hamilton said. “I think it was a gutsy win and I think Francis Marion played as hard as they could. We were good in the second half and maybe executed our shots a bit better. It's one win, but it's a start.”
The Ospreys struck first in the 17th minute with a header from Thea Linkfield off a corner kick from Keara Murphy. North Florida led 1-0 for most of the remainder of the first half until Francis Marion found the net twice in three minutes to take a 2-1 lead to the locker rooms for halftime.
Francis Marion extended the lead to 3-1 early in the second half (50th minute), pushing the ball past the Osprey defense and scoring on a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
An own goal by the Patriots in the 75th minute sparked North Florida's offense back to life, however, as Vladana Petricevic (83rd minute) and Lauren Hopfensperger (86th minute) added the tying and eventual game-winning goals, respectively.
In the second half, North Florida collected its three goals in just 10 minutes and 43 seconds.
“We needed to be more intense,” Hamilton recalled. “We needed to pick it up and I sort of expressed that in the locker room during halftime. At the end of the day, it's on their shoulders. I just think, for this team, they needed to get that win. I'm really proud of these girls tonight.”
The defense proved to be the difference as North Florida overwhelmed Francis Marion, collecting 13 shots on goal while the Patriots managed just four.
North Florida looks for its second consecutive win Monday, Sept. 13, when they travel to Birmingham, Ala. to face UAB.
