ETSU scores late but could not find the equalizer

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (August 19, 2011) – The ETSU women’s soccer team came into Snyder Field on Friday night full of hope and excitement for the start of the 2011 campaign, but could not find the needed late-game magic in a, 2-1, loss to Wofford. The Bucs fell behind early off a goal in the second minute and trailed the rest of the way.

“There are a lot of positives we can take out of this game,” said head coach Adam Sayers. “I thought we played very well in spurts. We had good spells of possession throughout the game and created goal scoring opportunities. We knew we were playing a good team in Wofford and we knew they would create chances as well.”

It was a night in which it seemed every time ETSU created opportunities, a Wofford defender came in to break up the chance before the Bucs could get a shot off, while the opposite held true for Wofford. The Terriers' 6-1 advantage in corners was indicative of the misfortune the Bucs witnessed throughout the game.

Wofford (1-0) gained possession early on when Anne Phillips got the ball inside the box and took a shot from 10 yards out that was deflected out by ETSU goalkeeper Caitlin Gaughan (Indianapolis, Ind.). The ensuing corner was taken by the Terrier’s Jewel Kawamoto and found Maureen Buff who settled and fired from short range to give Wofford the advantage just 1:53 into the season.

“It certainly made our task harder, but I thought we responded quite well,” said Sayers. “After the goal we put together good spells of possession and imposed ourselves more in the game. The focus for us in the future will be to make sure we are attentive from the first whistle so we don’t concede those early goals.”

The Bucs (0-1) would get things going following the score, as Ramey Kerns (Kings Mountain, N.C.), Jasmin Dutton (Kimmel Bay, North Wales) and Genna Petersen (Loveland, Ohio) combined for three of the game’s next four shots over a 20 minute span. Although ETSU was in attacking mode, none of the three shots could find their way through as Kerns and Dutton had their shots saved while Petersen’s flew wide right.

The Terriers outshot ETSU 5-4 through the first 45 minutes.

The second half would start off much like the first, as 10 minutes in Wofford’s Emily Bougas scored off a two-on-one breakaway with teammate Maggie O’Brien. As Bougas and O’Brien were working the break, Gaughan came up to try and kick out the attempt, but the ball was deflected down the left side leaving an open net. Bougas’ resulting shot went through the hands of Gaughan as she was sprinting back to goal and trickled in to give Wofford the, 2-0, advantage.

67 minutes into the 2011 season, Morgan Thomas (Maryville, Tenn.) found the back of the net to give the Bucs its first goal. After Dutton won the ball at midfield, she found freshman Kim Elmore (Salem, Va.) who dribbled the ball all the way down to the corner. Elmore then shook her defender and crossed a ball in that carried over the sprinting Terrier defenders and found the foot of Thomas to make it a one goal game.

Sayers would reenter Kerns and freshman Emilee Engelhaupt (Charlotte, N.C.) in the final 10 minutes, but the Bucs could not find a scoring opportunity.

The ETSU women’s soccer team will play its home opener on Friday, Aug. 26 against Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m.

For more information on ETSU women’s soccer please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s soccer links.