Coming into their match against Alabama A&M, the ETSU women’s soccer team’s record was 3-3-1, with all wins coming at home.
For the Bucs it was an aggressive offensive night. The team shot 16 shots with eight at the goal.
The defense was very alert, only allowing five out of seven shots at the goal.
The Bucs scored the first goal in the first minute of the match from senior Cecilia Re (Busnago, Italy). For Cecilia Re it was her second goal of the season. She was assisted by Sophomore Rachel Harbin (Arlington, Tenn.) to give the Bucs an early 1-0 lead.
Not too long after the Bucs scored again.
Thomai Vardali (Koufalia, Greece) scored in the sixth minute. The score came from a turnover by Alabama A&M that led to sophomore Isabel Hodgson (Addelaide, Australia) dashing up the left side and passing to teammate Rachel Harbin who was on the right side of the field. Harbin then passed to Vardali who scored to bring the Bucs lead to 2-0.
In the 29th minute Vardali got her second goal of the night scoring from the top right corner of the goal. Vardali was assisted by, senior Simona Koren (Graz, Austria).
Alabama A&M’s junior forward Margret Sesay scored in the 23rd minute.
For the rest of the match, neither defenses allowed another goal.
The Bucs beat the Aggies 3-1. With the win, the ETSU Buccaneers improve to 4-0 at home, their best start since 2014. Their record is currently 4-3-1.
The Bucs will now go into their second long road stretch of their schedule. It will be a good test for them before they go into conference play.
“I definitely think we can play better to get the same result,” Harbin said. “Hopefully we can build off this for the start of the conference. Our team is very comfortable at this field, most teams aren’t used to such a big field so I feel like we can take that into our advantage.”
