The ETSU women’s soccer team played their third game of the season on Wednesday, Aug. 28. The Bucs tied the game 0-0 against USC leaving them with a record of 1-1-2.
“We tried to keep the ball and we had possession,” said graduate student Pamela Penaloza (Bogota, Colombia). “We tried to look for our forwards, but we were unlucky.”
The Bucs went onto the field determined for a win but faced challenges to put the ball in the back of the net.
“We played well I thought, and we dominated the game,” says head coach Adam Sayer.
The team likes to approach every game with a certain set of objectives, and this game was no different.
“[Our goal is] to move the ball quickly and positively exploit the space that the opposition give us, which is different from game to game because they set up quite differently,” says Sayer.
The Bucs recorded a total of 23 shots in the 110 minutes of play. The Bucs kept the pressure on the Spartans throughout the game, and it wasn’t until the second half that the Spartans forced goalkeeper sophomore Tess Mrozek (Johnson City, Tennessee) into two saves keeping the game scoreless.
“It was a little frustrating trying to do everything the coach wanted us to do,” says Penaloza. “We were trying to do our best, and we had all the opportunities the ball just couldn’t go into the goal.”
Sophomore Marina Bradic (Medvedja, Serbia) raced to save the Bucs from trailing due to an open shot on goal. Bradic was successful and kept the score tied with just five minutes left in the game.
“I feel like in general, we had a good performance,” she said.
Wednesday’s game was more than just a regular game for the Bucs. The Bucs honored a local girl battling cancer. Nine-year-old Ava Corum, a native of the Tri-Cities, is battling Stage III Germ Cancer.
The women’s soccer team declared Ava an honorary member of the team, and she participated with the Buccaneers during their starting lineup.
The next game is Sep. 6 at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, as Buccaneers take on the Midshipmen.
