Women's Soccer Stumbles Against ETSU

Sunday, October 21

Jacksonville, Fla.

1 p.m.

University of North Florida

-792, 531 ASun

East Tennessee State

-1250, 630 ASun

East Tennessee State

North Florida

Photo by: Todd Drexler

10/21/2012 3:25:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: UNF Athletics

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The University of North Florida women's soccer team fell to East Tennessee State on Sunday afternoon, 5-1. It was the regular season finale for both teams.

"This was a tough game for us, obviously," Head Coach Linda Hamilton said. "We didn't play defense like we should have at all and, to their credit, they took advantage of our mistakes."

Sophomore Ramey Kerns, who entered the day as the Atlantic Sun's leading scorer did not waste any time adding additional goals to her total, scoring in both the third and seventh minute. The first came on a pass across the box from Sarah Zadrazil, while the second developed on a long pass up the middle of the field that Kerns was able to finish amongst miscommunication in the Osprey defense.

Morgan Thomas added a third for the Bucs in the 16th minute on a pass from Kerns that she was able to fire across to the far post, while Kerns completed her first-half hat trick in the 34th minute when she took a pass from Megan Wynne, turned a defender and buried a shot from 10 yards to put ETSU up 4-0 before the break.

Despite the scoreline, the Ospreys had many chances in the first half and had taken 12 first-period shots to ETSU's 10. At one point, the Ospreys racked up five shots in the span of just over three minutes, including a shot from junior midfielder Keara Murphy that bounced from the left post to the right post, as well as an attempt from Michele Larrinaga that was deflected out of bounds mere feet in front of the net.

The Bucs completed their scoring in just the 47th minute, as Kerns tallied her 20th goal of the season, tops in the nation. After Megan Wynne's cross was headed back across the goal by Thomas, Kerns nodded home her fourth of the game to give ETSU a 5-0 lead.

Sophomore Sam Scalf scored the lone goal for the Ospreys in the 87th minute. Scalf stepped in the way of a pass out of the ETSU defensive third and finished a one-on-one breakaway to make the score 5-1. It was Scalf's first goal in a UNF uniform.

UNF maintained their advantage in shots throughout the match, finishing with a 22-18 lead, as well as a 7-1 advantage in cornerkicks.

Prior to the match, the Ospreys' six seniors: Kathryne Husted, Larrinaga, Sadie McLean, Kathleen Murphy, Martha Tracey and Allie Tucker.

"This wasn't how we hoped to send our seniors out," Hamilton said. "But we know that we have to turn things around in time for the tournament and I couldn't ask for a better group of seniors to help us do that."

With the loss, the Ospreys fall to 7-9-2, with a 5-3-1 mark in A-Sun play. They finish the season with the sixth seed and will travel to Kennesaw State on Saturday, October 27th for the A-Sun Quarterfinals. The time of the match is TBA.