ETSU returned home from a tough road swing through Florida, losing to both North Florida and Jacksonville on Oct. 8. The Lady Bucs looked to stop a three-game losing streak against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.
Both teams started slowly looking for holes to get a shot in but neither team was able to break through.
The game slowly developed into a battle for mid-field and ETSU struggled to stop the Eagles slow advance toward the goal.
The Eagles Jessica Swartzentruber finally broke through the ETSU defense to get past the Lady Bucs’ goalie in the 19th minute 0f the game giving FGCU a 1-0 lead.
ETSU looked to tie the game before halftime with a long pass near mid-field that was grabbed from the Lady Buc offense by the Eagle goalie, giving FGCU the 1-0 lead at halftime.
“In the first half we weren’t connected,” said head coach Heather Henson. “FGCU just dispossessed us of the ball and were able to score because of it.”
The second half saw a fired up ETSU team come out shooting on a shot just outside the 20-yard box that the Eagle goalie was just able to save.
FGCU looked to extend the lead on a quick break that got past the Lady Bucs’ defense but the ETSU goalie Megan Masch was able to just get a hand on to deflect the ball away, ending the Eagle offensive.
ETSU continued to attack the Eagles and had a chance to even the score on a quick break by Molly Vaughn but the Eagle goalie was able to grab the ball.
ETSU was unable to overcome the one-point deficit in their fourth straight lose in the Atlantic Sun Conference. They fell to 2-4-0 on conference play.
“We got out of our system of play last weekend in Florida and while we prepared and trained we were not fully back in our system tonight,” Henson said.
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