Friday, September 02, 2005

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (September 2, 2005) - The ETSU women's soccer team lost to Middle Tennessee State University, 5-2, during the first game of the MTSU College Classic in Murfreesboro, Tenn.  The Lady Bucs fall to 0-2-0 while the Blue Raiders improve to 2-1-0. 

"We didn't come ready to play the first half," said head women's soccer coach Heather Henson.  "We had plenty of opportunities to attack but we just broke down and played slow.  MTSU has a very good team."

MTSU got on the board early on a Rachel Holmes penalty kick at the 2:02 mark.  The Blue Raiders would score three more times to have a 4-0 advantage at halftime.

Senior Megan Morris (Bowie, Md.) got the Lady Bucs on the scoreboard at the 47:13 mark off an assist from junior Trista Haupt (Myersville, Md.).  Morris's score was followed closely by a goal by junior Emily Fulcher (New Bern N.C.) at the 59:56 mark to make the score 4-2.  Unfortunately for the Lady Bucs, these would be the only goals of the evening.  In the last second of the game, Rebecca Rodriguez made MTSU's second penalty kick to make the final score 5-2.  The win extends MTSU's home winning streak to 12 games which dates back to 2003.

            "We made some defensive changes in the second half and kept them scoreless until the last second of the game," Henson said.  "Now we need to bounce back for Sunday."

            The Lady Bucs will play again on Sunday at the MTSU College Classic against Alabama A&M at 1:00 p.m..  They will return to Johnson City for the first home game of the season against Radford on Friday, September 9.  Game time is set for 7 p.m..