University of North Florida
Florida Gulf Coast
Women’s Soccer to Face Florida Gulf Coast
9/18/2010 12:16:56 PM | Women's Soccer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The North Florida women's soccer team returns to action at home as it looks for its second consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference win of the 2010 season, facing off against Florida Gulf Coast Sunday, Sept. 19, at 1 p.m. at Hodges Stadium.
Overall, the Ospreys are 2-6 (1-0 A-Sun), dropping five one-goal matches on the year. However, North Florida is coming off an impressive win to start conference play, blanking Stetson, 1-0, for the squad's first shutout of the year. The women are 2-0 at home this season and outscoring opponents, 5-3, at Hodges Stadium.
Florida Gulf Coast is 3-5-1 (0-0-1 A-Sun) overall, losing or tying three of its last five matches. In the team's last outing, the Eagles tied conference foe Jacksonville, 0-0, in a double-overtime match in Jacksonville, Fla.
The series between the two schools is knotted at 1-1-1 with both teams winning and losing once each in Jacksonville. The series started in 2007, and the two teams have squared off in the regular season each year since.
The two schools fought to a double-overtime tie, 0-0, in the last match on Oct. 11, 2009 in Fort Myers, Fla. In the only other two meetings before, the Ospreys edged the Eagles, 2-1, in overtime on Oct. 10, 2008 in Jacksonville and fell to Florida Gulf Coast, 1-0, in regulation on Oct. 14, 2007 in Jacksonville.
Offensively, the Ospreys have had eight different players score goals on the year, led by sophomore forward Michele Larrinaga and freshmen forwards Lauren Hopfensperger and Carolina Lencina who have all netted two each.
Larrinaga scored her pair of goals on two shots in just three minutes and 19 seconds against Saint Mary's on Aug. 29. Larrinaga was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week (Aug. 30) for her efforts.
Hopfensperger, tied for team leader in shots (10) and leading in shots on goal (7), garnered one of North Florida's two game-winning goals of the year when she found the back of the net against Francis Marion on Sept. 10. Lencina, also tied for team leader in shots (10), owns the only other game winner, scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 win against Stetson on Sept. 17.
Defensively, North Florida will look to slow down Florida Gulf Coast's junior midfielder Olivia Elias who leads her team with 24 shots (11 on goal), including one game winner.
Head coach Linda Hamilton is in her fourth season at UNF and owns a 25-51-7 career mark heading into this weekend's play. The Ospreys, who finished with a 5-11-3 mark in 2009, return 15 letterwinners, including five starters this season.
