The Bucs shut down the Citadel, 6-0, for for their second SoCon win Friday night.
“Physical game on both ends,” said coach Heather Henson.
“Playing against a military mentality, we knew we were going to go into a game that they are going to go and they were going to go in hard, and they are going to be strong when they go.”
The first goal of the game came from senior Andrea Brown, her fourth on the season, nine minutes into the game.
Brown made a couple of moves to lose the Citadel defense and let loose with a shot from 35 yards out.
The Citadel keeper, Angie Ellenwood, was out of position and had no chance at the shot.
“We knew we had to posses the ball, work it up the field, and go in numbers,” said Henson.
“Dre [Andrea Brown] started off the night, you’ve got to serve them in, and Dre did a great job of serving that one in and got a goal from it.”
The Bucs created a lot of offensive pressure in the first half, the bucs had 12 shots and forced 4 corner kicks.
From one of those corner kicks, the Bucs converted for a score. Fourteen minutes in, Rebecca Brown sent a corner kick in and Kerri Burke headed in the ball in for her second goal of the season.
“Kerri had a great night in terms of looking to get into the attack as one of our backs,” said Henson.
The last goal of the first half was by Erin Ashton, and was her fifth goal on the season.
The Citadel defense, on the retreat, passed the ball back to the keeper.
The keeper had trouble trapping the ball to gain control of the pass.
Ashton gained control of the ball when Citadels goalkeeper, Angie Ellenwood, made an effort to clear the ball.
Ashton gave the team their 3rd goal of the first half sending the team into the 2nd half at 3-0.
“Beginning of the second half, we didn’t possess enough,” said Henson.
“We found ourselves with long balls being sent and dribbled down on our defense and having to clear a lot of balls. Defensively, we handled the pressure.
“Once we started possessing it more in the middle of the field, and gained our composure, we saw the combinations start again. The combinations are what were effective for us in the first half.”
ETSU earned three goals in the second half.
Lauren Kulish made her first goal of the season off an assist from Emily Fulcher in the 63rd minute.
Fulcher went in to challenge the keeper, and came up with the ball and dropped it to a waiting Kulish.
Freshman Emily Fulcher then went on to score her own goal eight minutes later. Fulcher received the ball off a blocked shot and fired another shot from 12 yards out that beat the keeper.
“Emily Fulcher had a great night, she was on a mission: good touches, on air balls, looked to play outside, took it herself,” said Henson.
“She was a complete player tonight, [she] did a great job.”
The last goal of the half came from Kerri Burke, it was her second goal of the night, and her third for the season.
“Keri did a great job,” said Henson. “She got one in the back of the net off a corner, and just like Andrea severed one in and you never know what’s going to happen.”
Putting up another shut out on the season was the defense led by senior Heather Sanden.
“I think we did real good, cause Citadel is nothing but a physical team, and that is what we practiced on all week,” said Sanden.
“We prepared ourselves for this game mentally and physically. They thought we where going to come into this game thinking we already had this game and too confident.
“We don’t come in playing like that, we are not a cocky team. This is just a really awesome year for us.