(October 23, 2008) - Battling rain and windy conditions, the ETSU women's soccer team picked up a big 1-0, victory over Atlantic Sun Conference rival Stetson, Friday at Summers-Taylor Stadium.

"It seems like every time we play Stetson it comes down to a one-goal match," said head coach Heather Henson. "I respect (Stetson head coach) Julie (Orlowki) a lot and her team always plays hard."

With the win the Bucs improve to 6-8-1 overall and 4-4-1 in conference play, while the Hatters fall to 6-8-2 and 4-4-0 in league action. ETSU now has 13 total conference points, which jumps the Bucs to fourth place. Each conference team, with the exception of Mercer, Campbell, Kennesaw State and ETSU, all have two matches left this weekend.

The Bucs jumped out front early as sophomore forward Terri Miller (Cape Coral, Fla.) played the ball deep into the Hatter's zone, where sophomore Jessica Huntington (Newport News, Va.) dribbled past a defender firing a shot off Stetson keeper Andrea Garavaglia. Just as the ball went off of Garavaglia ETSU junior forward Jordan Monty (Mesquite, Texas), picked up the loose ball and fired home the game-winning goal in the third minute of play.

"We did a great job switching the point of attack," said Henson. "I thought our outlet passing and spacing where great, which in return created a chance for Jordan to put away the shot in the back of the net.  Against a team like Stetson putting an early goal in like we did can make all the difference in a match. "

Two minutes later it looked like Monty was going to find the back of the net again, however Stetson defender Alexis Hermosa was able to knock the ball out of play.

The Hatters best two scoring opportunities came late in the second half. Forward Tessa Gavilsky fired a shot from 10-yards out, which was saved by diving ETSU freshman keeper Megan Masch (Virginia Beach, Va.). Then with less than one minute to play, the Hatters gained possession with a breakaway pass; however Stetson forward Heather Berg's shot would go just wide of the net giving the Bucs the one-goal win.

"This afternoon we put a full 90 minutes together," said Henson. "Stetson is a team that isn't going to give up, so after we scored that first goal our team knew we were in for a battle. Our defense, along with Megan (Masch), did a very good job against Stetson's frontrunners. Their forwards are a very explosive group, but I thought our back four defenders did an excellent job playing the way we needed to for the win."

ETSU returns to action as they host league foe Florida Gulf Coast with a 2:00 p.m, contest Sunday. Before Sunday's match, the Bucs will honor their four senior players, goalkeeper Erin Bilyeu (Murfreesboro), forward Ashley Craig (Lakeland, Fla.), defender Meredith Goldman (Knoxville) and forward Rachel Layer (Bel Air, Md.).

For information of ETSU athletics and the women's soccer team please visit www.ETSUBUCS.com.