The Bucs stopped Wofford and fell to Elon 1-0 over the weekend.
The ETSU soccer team put together two good performances over fall break, but only one would result in a win. In Thursday’s contest against Wofford, ETSU came out ready to play and wanted to keep their momentum from a 2-0 victory over UT-Chattanooga. In the first half both defenses were up to the test and it showed as no goals were allowed by either team. The Bucs knew what they were getting into against this talented Terrier club and the team had a good week of practice to prepare for them.
“We knew what kind of system Wofford had and we got in two good days of practice, so we knew what to expect,” said head coach Heather Henson.
The scoring drought ended at the 47:30 mark when sophomore Rebecca Murray headed the ball past Terrier goalkeeper Austin Somers. Erin Ferris’ cross from the left side of the net to the front of goal set up Murray’s header for the game’s only score.
Although ETSU only had one goal of the night, Henson liked what she saw from her offense.
“We came out hard and we were creating attacking opportunities throughout the game,” said Henson.
Defensively the team was not too bad either, posting its third shutout in the last three games. Two of those games were SoCon victories and the other was a 0-0 tie against College of Charleston. ETSU goalie Sarah Prendergast recorded five saves on the night and the defense stopped all the other shots.
“Defensively the team played very well, we defended everywhere and we were stepping in front of shots,” said Henson.
In Sunday’s game at Elon the team came out with the same mentality, but the Phoenix’s goal at the 49:03 mark off a restart would prove to be the game winner. Monica Houseworth scored the goal off a header from a pass from Tina Longo.
The restart was from about 15 yards out and Houseworth’s height was a factor in the goal for Elon.
“She (Houseworth) was pretty tall and couldn’t get to ball before she did,” said Henson.
Another factor the did not effect the score of the game, but did effect the tempo was the contest was the officiating.
“The refs were calling little touch fouls, and that made it very hard to find our rhythm,” said Henson.
Prendergast had four saves for the Bucs.ETSU is now 5-5-3 overall and 2-2-3 in the SoCon and they have a date with the UNC-Greensboro Spartans tonight at Liberty Bell Field. The game will start at 7 p.m. and this should be another good test for the Bucs.
“UNC-G is usually a top three or four team in the conference, and have never beaten them so we are pretty lucky to have them at our place,” said Henson.

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