Bucs score in closing seconds to secure first win of the season

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Aug. 28, 2022) – Emma Arnold (Bristol, Tenn.) provided the ETSU women’s soccer team with some late-game heroics as the junior forward scored in the closing seconds en route to lifting the Buccaneers to 1-0 road win at USC Upstate Sunday night at County University Soccer Stadium. 

RECORDS

• The Bucs, who secured their first win of the 2022 season, moved to 1-1-2 overall, while USC Upstate now sits with the identical 1-1-2 mark. 

• ETSU remained perfect over the Spartans as the Blue and Gold are now 11-0-1 all-time against USC Upstate, while moving to 5-0 in games played in Spartanburg. 

• The Bucs kept another streak alive in the series as ETSU has yet to surrender a goal to the Spartans in all 12 matches. 

SCORING

For the second time this season, Arnold found the back of the net as Nele Bauer (Bammental, Germany) assisted on the game-winner. 

The goal came on a counter attack as Sarah Connolly (Ballygowan, Northern Ireland) won a ball at midfield and played a quick through ball to Bauer. From there, Bauer beat the Spartan defender to the end line where she pulled the ball across the goal and Arnold was there to smash it into the back of the net, sending the Buccaneers into a frenzy. 

The goal came with less than 25 seconds remaining and ETSU secured the victory. 

MATCH SUMMARY

• Sophomore Ashton Blair (Knoxville, Tenn.) was spectacular yet again in goal for the Bucs … Blair, who recorded her second straight clean sheet, stopped five Spartan shots on Sunday, including three over a two-minute span from the 76th through 78th minute. 

• Blair moved her record to 1-1-2 on the year. 

• As a team, ETSU totaled 11 shots with six coming on target, while USC Upstate took 12 shots and five were on net. 

• The Bucs took one more corner kick than the Spartans, 4-3, while the fouls were nearly identical with ETSU registering nine to USC Upstate’s eight. 

QUICK KICKS

• Emma Arnold tallied two shots – both coming on goal – in 46 minutes of work … Entering the season, Arnold had nine total shots in 19 career games, while this season she already has two goals on four shots in four games played. 

• Nele Bauer collected her first collegiate assist, while it marked ETSU’s second assist this season as Emma Arnold assisted on the Bucs’ first goal of the campaign in the 2-2 tie over Gardner-Webb. 

• Sophomore defender Sydney Somogyi (Germantown, Tenn.) kept her streak of playing all 90 minutes alive as she has played in 360 minutes this season. 

• ETSU had 20 players log minutes on the pitch with Bauer leading the reserves with 57 minutes … To go with her assist, Bauer also took two shots with one being on target. 

• The Bucs used a different starting lineup for a fourth straight match as Sinoxolo Cesane (Capetown, South Africa) made her first start of the year and Aliya Cooper (Chattanooga, Tenn.) recorded her first collegiate start. 

UP NEXT

ETSU continues its five-game road swing with a trip to the Music City on Friday night to take on Vanderbilt … Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.

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