Wednesday, October 25, 2006

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (October 25, 2006) - In the final home match of the season the ETSU women's soccer team fell in a hard fought battle to the Big South rival UNC-Asheville, 2-1 on Wednesday night. The Bucs fall to 5-9-3 overall while the Bulldogs improve to 6-6-2.

Prior to the start of the game, seniors Emily Fulcher (New Bern, N.C.), Trista Haupt (Myersville, Md.), Blair DeGraw (Greensboro, N.C.), Rebecca Murray (Franklin, Tenn.), and Alex Schwark (Strongsville, Ohio) were honored for their commitment and dedication to the program in a traditional senior night ceremony.

In the first half, both teams traded the ball back and forth with ETSU out shooting Asheville 7-6, until Asheville's McKenna Stockhausen connected with Lauren Turnburke for her first goal of the night with two minutes remaining in the period.

The Bucs responded quickly as Fulcher found the back of the net in a minute later to tie the match up heading into halftime. Fulcher's goal moved her into second place on the career goals list with 23.

In the second, the Bucs and Bulldogs continued to battle it out as ETSU continued to out shoot Asheville, but the Bulldogs would score one more time as Stockhausen would find the back of the net again with eight minutes remaining in the match.

ETSU out shot Asheville 18-15 on total shots and put 14 shots on goal to Asheville's seven. The Bucs also took seven corner kicks while holding the Bulldogs to four.

"The girls really came out tonight with a lot of energy and drive because it was senior night and they really wanted to do it for the seniors," said head coach Heather Henson. "We just didn't detail Asheville enough and they were able to take advantage of our mistakes."

The Bucs will hit the road for their final regular season match as they travel to Blacksburg, Va. to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies Friday night. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.