ETSU women’s soccer opened regular season play Aug. 18 against South Carolina State at Summers-Taylor Stadium. The Bucs won the contest 8-0, with three goals in the first and five in the second.
Junior Rachel Harbin (Arlington, Tennessee) scored the first goal in just the first seven minutes in the game, making it her first goal of two total.
Pauline Vienne (Lausanne, Switzerland) scored seconds before the buzzer for the half and gave the Buccaneers a 3-0 lead, then continued to log two more goals in the second half. Eleonora Goldoni (Ferrara, Italy) scored her first goal of the night in the beginning of the second half on an assist from Vienne and her second 5 minutes before Vienne scored her third and officially last goal of the game.
On Aug. 20, the women’s team suffered their first loss of the season after Tennessee Tech scored early in the second half, putting the final score at 1-0. Juniors Vienne and Goldoni led the team with four shots each, combining for five shots on goal. ETSU out shot SC State 23-14, with eight shots on goal.
The Bucs fall to 1-1 on the season and will travel to Knoxville to take on the University of Tennessee on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. Then the Bucs will be back home to take on Davidson at 2 p.m. on Aug. 27.
As for the men, the ETSU men’s soccer team took on Virginia Tech in an exhibition Aug. 15 at Summers-Taylor Stadium. Tech scored the only goal of the game in the 52nd minute, and the Bucs lost the match. In the first half, the Bucs only took five shots and ended the night with 12 shots, eight on goal. The Bucs finished the game with 14 fouls and two yellow cards.
Goalkeeper Jonny Sutherland (Chester, U.K.) won an award last year as the SoCon Goalkeeper of the Year. To start the season strong, Sutherland saved seven shots in the first half with only one goal in the second, though he finished the night with 10 saves. Junior Serge Gomis (Dakar, Senegal) had a team-leading four shots with three on goal. Senior Cameron Woodfin (Old Hickory, Tennessee) played the entire second half and took three shots with two on goal.
Head coach Bo Oshoniyi has been with the men’s team for four seasons now. This year he’s signed the largest freshmen class and nine of those freshman gained experience. Starting freshmen for the Bucs Tuesday night included Danny Barlow (Newcastle, England), Dehai Abraham (Orlando, Florida) and Merveil Bilombo (Tours, France).
On Aug. 19, the Bucs took on UNC Asheville for the last exhibition game before the regular season. Freshman Jordan Broadwater (Kingsport, Tennessee) scored his first goal in collegiate competition in the second half, only 3 minutes after subbing in.
Sutherland earned the shutout after he took a dive to the right to block a penalty kick and secured the Bucs’ win. Senior Fletcher Ekern (Knoxville, Tennessee) led the team with four shots, all in the first half. The Bucs outshot the Bulldogs 15-7, with three shots on goal. ETSU ended the night with 14 fouls, while UNCA had 13.
The men will start regular season play Aug. 25 against Dayton at 6 p.m. The first official home game will be Aug. 29 vs. Kentucky at 7 p.m.
