On Sept. 7, coming off a three match losing streak among away games, the ETSU women’s soccer team returned home. Coming into the game, the Bucs were 2-0 at home with both victories being shutouts.
At 31 minutes, Eleonora Goldoni (Ferrara, Italy) put the Bucs on the board first after an assist from sophomore Fiona Dodge (Pontypool, Wales) and Irina Brutsch (Zurich, Switzerland. Goldoni scored with a kick back left corner of the net to give ETSU the 1-0 lead. Brutsch recorded her fourth assist on the season. She currently leads the Southern Conference.
Seconds later Goldoni had a chance to score again, but the ball went out of play.
For the second half Winthrop shot five of their eight shots for the game in the first 13 minutes.
“It’s great to have three shutouts at home,” said sophomore Emily McKerlie (Dumfries, Scotland). “It doesn’t happen very often. We have had a bump in the road with a few road losses but to come back and play the way we did tonight was very important.”
Goldoni got her second goal of the night in the 86th minute when she scored on a penalty kick to give the Bucs a 2-0 lead.
“I’m really happy about this game and the way we started,” Goldoni said. “I’m happy and proud of the team for the win tonight.”
Goldoni recorded her second career multi-goal performance.
The Bucs won 2-0 to improve 3-3 on the season and 3-0 at home.
“Players were absolutely brilliant tonight coming off a tough three game road trip,” said Head Coach Adam Sayers. “It was important for us to get back to winning ways and protect the home field advantage that we have. We played well and controlled possession and was patience and the girls did that excellent tonight against a dangerous Winthrop team.”
During the game, the Bucs were the aggressor. The team attempted 11 shots with four going at the goal compared to Winthrop who had eight attempts with only two going at the goal.
Though they didn’t get many shot attempts as they may have liked, the Bucs defense was stout once again to force another shutout. The problem for the Bucs has only come from playing on the road away from Summers-Taylor Stadium.
