Women’s Soccer Returns Home to Face East Tennessee State

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida women's soccer team returns to action at Hodges Stadium on Friday, Oct. 1, as it looks for its best Atlantic Sun Conference start since 2007 when the team began 3-2-0 in conference play. The Ospreys will face off against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers Friday with the match scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m.

Overall, the Ospreys are 3-8 (2-2 A-Sun), dropping all but one match by just one-goal on the year. However, North Florida has put together an impressive start in A-Sun Conference play, blanking two of its four opponents in two wins and falling twice by just one goal. In addition, the squad has equaled or outshot its opponent in each of the last eight matches.

The women are 2-1 while playing at home this season, and are outscoring opponents, 6-5, at Hodges Stadium.

East Tennessee State is 6-3-1 (2-1 A-Sun) overall, and has emerged victorious in three of its past five matches while outscoring opponents a combined score of 8-5 in those games. In the team's last outing, the Buccaneers fell to conference foe Belmont, 3-2, in a double-overtime match in Johnson City, Tenn.

Historically, North Florida holds a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series and also won the only meeting between the two schools in Jacksonville, 2-1, on Sept. 25, 2005 when the series first kicked off. East Tennessee State came away with a double-overtime win, 1-0, in the most recent meeting, Sept. 25, 2009, in Johnson City, Tenn.

Offensively, the Ospreys have had eight different players score goals on the year, led by freshmen forwards Carolina Lencina and Lauren Hopfensperger who have netted three each and sophomore forward Michele Larrinaga who has found the net twice this season.

Lencina, team leader in shots (20), shots on goal (10), points (8) and tied for the team lead in assists (2), last scored against Florida Gulf Coast, Sept. 19, in a narrow 2-1 loss, but also found the back of the net against Stetson on Sept. 17 to earn her first collegiate game-winning goal as the Ospreys claimed the win, 1-0.

Hopfensperger is the team leader in game-winning goals, owning two of the clutch shots. She garnered the first of her collegiate career against Francis Marion (4-3) on Sept. 10, while her second came more recently against Mercer in a 1-0 win on Sept. 24.

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.

Defensively, North Florida will look to slow down the East Tennessee State scoring duo of Terri Miller and Ramey Kerns who have five goals each this season. The Buccaneers lead the A-Sun in goals (19) and goals per game (1.90). In addition, the Ospreys' opponent is tied for the least amount of goals allowed in the conference, allowing just eight all season.

Head coach Linda Hamilton is in her fourth season at UNF and owns a 26-53-7 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.

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