Wednesday, October 19, 2005

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (October 19, 2005) - Junior Emily Fulcher (New Bern, N.C.) scored a career-high three goals as the ETSU women's soccer team cruised to a 6-1 win over South Carolina State in non-conference soccer action Wednesday night at the Liberty Bell Soccer Complex.

With the win, the Buccaneers improve to 8-8-0 overall, while South Carolina State drops to 1-12-0 on the season.

"We really wanted to build some confidence offensively and work on our determination to find the back of the net," said ETSU head coach Heather Henson, whose team will return to Atlantic Sun Conference play Sunday, Oct. 23 at home against Florida Atlantic beginning at 1 p.m.  "Having multiple players score was exactly what we were looking for heading into this weekend."    

ETSU broke out on top at the 32:55 mark of the first half, as senior Erin Ashton (New Bern, N.C.) took a pass from freshman Rachel Layer (Bel Air, Md.) and fired a shot toward the bottom left of the goal. The ball snuck past South Carolina State goalie Ciji Sims to give the Bucs an early 1-0 lead. For Ashton, it was her seventh goal of the season.

 Ashton got the next scoring play started 17 minutes later, when she crossed a pass to Layer, who deflected the ball to Fulcher for her first goal of the night with 15:32 left in the first half. Ashton and Layer earned assists on the play. Fulcher struck again moments later, as ETSU scored its final goal of the half with 1:12 left when South Carolina State was called for a hand ball in the box. Fulcher made good on the penalty kick, and the score was 3-0 at the break.

Fulcher scored once more with 39:57 left in the second half, as a corner kick by Ashton was headed to Fulcher by senior Meghan Morris (Bowie, Md.). Fulcher found the back of the net for her third goal of the night and eighth goal of the season, as ETSU led 4-0.  

"This was great," Fulcher said. "We really played well as a team and worked together. I haven't had a night like this since high school."

The Bucs added goals from junior Alexandra Schwark (Strongsville, Ohio) and sophomore Katie O'Bryan (Hampton, Va.) late in the game to round out the team's scoring for the night. Meanwhile, South Carolina State's lone goal of the game came with 16:07 left when a shot by Shadeeka Mendez slipped through the grasp of ETSU keeper Carrie Hill (Hixson, Tenn.).   

ETSU dominated the game statistically, firing 27 shots compared to just eight for South Carolina State. Sixteen of those Buc shots were on goal, compared to just five for the Bulldogs.

            For more on ETSU women's soccer, visit ETSUBucs.com.