Seniors Lead #WSOC to 4-1 Victory in Home Finale

Sunday, October 27

Jacksonville, Fla.

1 p.m.

University of North Florida

6-9-4; 3-4-2

Kennesaw State

8-8-1; 5-3-1

Kennesaw State

North Florida

10/27/2013 5:12:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Andrew Sapin, North Florida Athletics

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida women's soccer team finished the season strong, taking down Kennesaw State 4-1 on Sunday afternoon at Hodges Stadium on senior day.

Seniors Heather Botelho, Taylor Gillespie, Lauren Hopfensperger, Carolina Lencina, Thea Linkfield, Keara Murphy and Bri Swift were all recognized before the match and each senior earned the start.

"Kennesaw is a very good team," said head coach Linda Hamilton. "In conference play, anything can happen on any given day and our team definitely showed up to play."

The Owls outshot the Ospreys 7-4 in the first half, but neither team was able to find the back of the net.

The Ospreys came out of the half on the attack. In the 48th minute senior midfielder Murphy lined up to take a corner kick and passed it to Jill Holdsworth who blasted a shot from 18 yards out to give the Ospreys a 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, senior forward Lencina sent a pass to the middle of the box to find fellow senior forward Hopfensperger who would put the ball in the back of the net.

In the 70th minute, Kennesaw State's leading scorer Katrina Frost would make a couple of moves before sending a shot just inside the left post to cut the Ospreys lead down to one.

In the 74th minute, freshman forward Alexis Bredeau would add a goal of her own to give the Ospreys a 3-1 lead. With less than four minutes to play, senior Linkfield fired a shot to the far post to finish the scoring after taking a pass in the box from Hopfensperger.

Kennesaw State finished the match holding a slight advantage on shots 15-12, while North Florida held a 7-5 advantage in corner kicks.

Junior keeper Megan Dorsey tallied five saves for the Ospreys while Olivia Sturdivant finished with three saves for the Owls.

"I thought we scored some phenomenal goals today," said Hamilton. "Our team played a great game and deserved to win against a good team."