University of North Florida
Mercer
Women’s Soccer Blanks Conference Co-Leader Mercer, 1-0
9/24/2010 9:47:03 PM | Women's Soccer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Behind the leg of freshman forward Lauren Hopfensperger, who added her third goal on the year, the North Florida women's soccer team handed conference co-leader Mercer its first conference loss of the season, 1-0, Friday night at Bear Field. With the win, the Ospreys improve to 3-7-0 (2-1-0 A-Sun) while the Bears fall to 3-6-1 (2-1-0 A-Sun).
“As I've said from the beginning of this year, we, as a staff, created a really tough non-conference schedule,” head coach Linda Hamilton said. “We did that with the hope that we'd get these girls in tough game situations so when conference play came along, they'd be ready for anything. I'm very proud of the way these girls came out tonight against a really good Mercer team.”
North Florida earned its second shutout of the year, both coming within conference play, as the stingy Osprey defense continued to impress. The defense gave up 11 shots, though only four were on target. Junior goalkeeper Brittany Hahn grabbed four saves on the night to pick up her third win and second shutout of the year.
Offensively, the Ospreys tallied 11 shots (five on goal) and were led by Hopfensperger who found the net for the lone goal of the game in the 68th minute. Freshman forward Carolina Lencina provided the assist, her second of the season.
The game-winning goal marks the St. Augustine, Fla., native's second game-winner of the season. She now leads the team in that category and is tied atop the team leaders in goals scored with three (Lencina).
“It actually wasn't your typical great shot from outside,” Hamilton recalled. “Carolina and Lauren were in there fighting for the ball and Lauren happened to get her foot on it at the right time to push it through. The two of them, with their tenacity, caused that goal. Mercer never gave up, defensively. It was just a battle of wills, to be honest and those two came out on top.”
The Osprey offense has not been outshot by its opponent in the past seven matches, and has bested its opponent in the category five out of the last seven matches. Tonight, the two teams took 11 shots each.
North Florida starts with an Atlantic Sun Conference record of 2-1-0, tying the best start for the Ospreys since 2007 and 2008 when the squad started 2-1-0 as well.
Up next, North Florida returns to action Sunday at 1 p.m. as the squad faces conference co-leader Kennesaw State at KSU Soccer Stadium. The Ospreys look to end a seven-game losing streak to the Owls, dating back to 2003.
