Horiuchi nets game-winner; Ohba posts seventh clean sheet of the year

LEXINGTION, Va. (Oct. 24, 2021) – How sweep it is!

Junior Momoko Horiuchi (Paris, Tenn.) provided the game-winning goal in 64th minute and freshman keeper Shu Ohba (Fujisawa, Japan) recorded her seventh shutout of the season en route to helping lift ETSU women’s soccer to 1-0 win at VMI Sunday afternoon from Patchin Field.

RECORDS

The Bucs enjoyed the weekend road sweep with a pair of 1-nil wins at UNCG and VMI en route to improving to 7-5-3 overall and 4-4-1 in Southern Conference play. Ironically, this marks the first time the Blue and Gold swept a conference weekend since beating UNCG and VMI (Oct. 12-14, 2018).  

ETSU, who entered the weekend in ninth-place in the conference standings, secured a berth in the SoCon quarterfinals as the fourth-seeded Bucs will take on fifth-seeded Mercer on Friday in Birmingham, Ala. In the preseason SoCon Coaches Poll, ETSU was picked ninth.

ETSU also secured itself a winning season for the first time since 2016, while improving to 5-2-1 on the road, tying the most road wins in single-season program history.

With the loss, VMI dropped to 3-15-1 overall and 0-8-1 in conference action.

Ohba improved her record to 7-5-3 as she continued building on her single-season program record with her seventh shutout.

SCORING SUMMARY

Following a defensive battle in the opening 45 minutes, the Bucs broke through near the midway point of the second half. Sophomore Paige Carlsen (Johnson City, Tenn.) delivered a pass in the box to Horiuchi, and after she controlled the ball with her right foot to beat the VMI defender, the ETSU midfielder fired a laser with her left boot into the upper right corner of the net for her second goal of the season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The Bucs outshot VMI, 11-9, with six of those shots coming in the first half, including four being on goal.

Shu Ohba collected five saves – two in the first and three in the second half – while VMI’s Jillian Hall also finished with five saves.

The teams combined for 29 fouls with VMI being called for 16, while ETSU was plus-3 in corners, 6-3.

Momoko Horiuchi, who tallied her fourth career goal (third game-winner), generated two shots – both on goal – while Jocelyn Nehls (New Richmond, Ohio) also had two shots. Nehls, who scored in Friday’s 2-1 win at UNCG, had the Bucs’ best look in the first half when a ball was lobbed in between two VMI defenders and she fired one just right of the post in the 27th minute.

The Blue and Gold had a couple of chances to extend their lead late when Horiuchi took one away from VMI in the 73rd minute and set up Jenna Brown (Claremore, Okla.), whose shot was blocked and the ball was punched out of bounds for a corner kick. Five minutes later, Kyra Ranvek (Knoxville, Tenn.) had an open shot right outside the box sail just right of the goal.  

Paige Carlsen picked up her first collegiate point with the assist on the Horiuchi’s goal.

UP NEXT

The Bucs open the Southern Conference Tournament this Friday when ETSU takes on Mercer at Samford’s Shauna Yelton Field. The winner of the quarterfinal match will take on regular season champion Samford in Sunday’s semifinal.

For more information on Buccaneer women’s soccer, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s soccer page.