Despite flashes of greatness, the injury-plagued Lady Bucs soccer team dropped a pair of games over the weekend to Austin Peay State University and Radford University.
The Lady Bucs lost their home opener at the Liberty Bell to Austin Peay, 3-2 in a tough, physical contest on Friday, Sept. 1. Sluggish play allowed Austin Peay numerous attempts to score, resulting in a 1-0 lead at intermission for the Governor’s due to a goal from Stacey Howell.
The first half could have been worse if not for the outstanding goalkeeping of senior Emily Fulcher who turned away shot after shot.
The second half saw more sloppy play from the Bucs as they surrendered two more goals, one from Ashley Beck and another from Howell, putting the Bucs down three goals with little time remaining.
With nothing to lose coach Heather Henson replaced Fulcher in the goal and placed her out into the field were she played prior to this season. The change paid off immediately with ETSU getting their first goal of the season from Aubree Snyder – her first of the year – with the aid of a beautiful corner kick from Ashley Craig, cutting the lead to 3-1. Snyder’s goal ignited a furious rally. The last 15 minutes ETSU looked like a totally different team.
“It just takes one goal to break the ice,” Snyder said.
With five minutes to go Meredith Goldman put the Bucs down only one goal when she scored her first goal of the season with an assist from Kia Kindell.
Time eventually ran out on the comeback effort leaving the final score 3-2.
After the game the tone of the team was not that of a losing team but that of a confident squad.
“We didn’t lose that game,” Fulcher said. “We just ran out of time . five more minutes and we’ll beat that team.”
Henson was even positive about the play she saw in the last 15 minutes.
“We have it in us,” Henson said. “We just have to put it together for 90 minutes.”
That’s easier said than done. The Lady Bucs lost their next game 3-1 at Radford. The loss made four in a row for the Lady Bucs putting their record at 0-4.
A slow start was once again the culprit as the Bucs fell behind 2-0 in the first half.
Emily Fulcher continued her strong play out in the field scoring her first goal of the year in the opening minutes of the second half.
The Bucs continued their strong play throughout the second half but lost all their momentum when a second goal by Fulcher was voided by a questionable offsides penalty.
The Lady Bucs next game will be Friday, Sept. 8, when they travel to Martin, Tenn., to participate in the University of Tennessee-Martin tournament. They will face UT-Martin at 4 p.m. and Murray State on Sunday, Sept. 10 at noon.

Author