After a long double overtime win against North Florida Friday, the ETSU women’s soccer team could not maintain its momentum dropping its first Atlantic Sun Conference contest this fall to league rival Jacksonville 2-0 Sunday at Summers-Taylor Stadium.With the loss the Bucs fall to 2-8-0 overall with a 1-1 clip in A-Sun play, while the Dolphins improve to 5-5-0 with a 2-0 mark in league action.

“Jacksonville did a great job with their central mids today,” said head coach Heather Henson. “We knew today was going to be a fight and I thought we had two breakdowns that cost us. Give credit to JU for keeping possession and finding feet, but we can’t have miscues like we did this afternoon.”

“I’m very pleased with the team’s performance today,” said Jacksonville head coach Brian Copham, in an interview with JUDolphins.com. “We played well against a competitive ETSU team and it’s always a battle when we face them.”

After failing to score early in the first half ETSU found itself down 1-0 after Jacksonville freshman forward Alex Schulte settled a touch pass from freshman midfielder Eva Leeper for the match’s opening goal in the 27th minute.

“We had our chances throughout the first half, but the lack of focus hurt us,” said Henson. “Our small-group defense broke down on their first goal and when you play a team like Jacksonville, who does a great job sticking to their game plan, you can’t have that type of communication error mentally.”

In the second half the Dolphins went to work again as sophomore midfielder Liz Fink left a well placed pass to freshman forward Lisa Hensley, who beat outgoing ETSU sophomore keeper Megan Masch in the 68th minute.

After Jacksonville added its insurance goal, the Bucs attempted to create another scoring situation. However, JU sophomore keeper Alexa Rooney turned away any ETSU chance for a comeback with her second shutout of the season.

“This weekend wasn’t the exact start we wanted, but we did come out with three points,” Henson said. “We’ve done some good things creating scoring chances, now we have to keep working, keep to our game plan and stay patient.”

Masch led the Bucs with eight saves, while senior forward Jordan Monty, freshman forward Tori Head and sophomore midfielder Genna Petersen paced the offense with two shots a piece.

For Jacksonville, freshman midfielder Emily Culbreth led the attack with three shots on goal.

After earning three points with this weekend’s split, ETSU returns to the field with an 8 p.m. match Friday in Nashville to face defending conference champ Belmont.

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