The Stetson women's soccer team traveled to Jacksonville Sunday and returned home with an important 2-0 victory over the Dolphins.
Stetson controlled play in the first half out shooting Jacksonville 6-1. The Hatters opened up the scoring 6:49 into the game on a set piece off a corner kick. Sophomore Emily Ware sent the corner kick into the box. Senior Sarah Stock headed the ball across to Emily Yero who headed the ball past the outstretched Dolphin goalkeeper. It was the fourth goal of the season for the sophomore out of Orlando (Orangewood Christian H.S.) and the first assist of 2007 for Stock who leads the team in points with 13.
“We really dominated play in the first half”, said Hatters Head Coach Julie Orlowski. “Everybody played very well.”
Stetson also led in second half shots 8-6, yet the Dolphins made some changes at halftime that kept the Hatter defense on its toes. Jacksonville's Keri Zwikker, the A-Sun's preseason Player of the Year selection was stymied by a solid defense and held to just one shot. Although she was not credited with any saves, Hatters goalkeeper Andrea Garavaglia made a few great plays and cleared some crosses at key moments. It was the second shutout of the season for Garavaglia.
“I have to give a lot of credit to our back four. Elise Ketchum, Kelsey Kramer, Bethany Kiedis and Yvonne Davis were absolutely spectacular tonight”, said Orlowski.
The final goal of the game was scored by the Hatters as the clock was winding down and the Dolphins were making a push for the tying tally. Freshman forward Tessa Gavilsky (Granite City, IL) intercepted a pass, dribbled fifty yards up the field and tucked a shot into the net to clinch the victory. It was the first goal of her collegiate career to go along with three assists.
“Top to bottom it was a great team effort. We played the full 90 minutes for the first time this year”, said Orlowski.
“We will look to continue this momentum going into next week, and the final five conference matches”, she added.
With the win Stetson is now 4-8-1 overall and 2-4-0 in A-Sun Conference play. On Friday they travel to Nashville to take on Lipscomb at 6:00 p.m. and will remain in town to play Belmont on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
