DeLand, Fla. - Senior Heather Berg (Fort Myers, Fla.) had a goal and an assist to lead Stetson to a 2-0 win over Campbell Thursday night at the Stetson Soccer Complex. Stetson improved to (6-5-0, 2-1-0) on the season while Campbell dropped to (6-6-0, 1-2-0).
Early in the first half (7:11) junior Tessa Gavilsky (Granite City, Ill.) scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season. It was a goal that in the end turned out to be the game-winner. Junior Katie Bitetto (Jacksonville, Fla.) started the play by feeding a perfect pass to Berg. Berg flipped a through ball to Gavilsky who buried a blast to the lower left corner. Campbell keeper Jamie Panfil (New Lenox, Ill.) never had a chance. It was the fifth assist of the season for Bitetto who is now tied for the conference lead in that category.
For the remainder of the first half the two teams played even with Campbell entering the break up 7-6 in shots. The second half however, seemed like a whole new game as the Hatters dominated the field of play. The Hatters outshot the Camels 14-1 and held a 7-0 advantage (12-2 overall) in corner kicks. Stetson's success started in the midfield.
"Emily Yero and Crossley Simmons were the players of the game", said Hatters Head Coach Julie Orlowski. "They controlled the tempo of the game and owned the midfield."
"When they play like that it frees up Tessa, Heather and the other forwards", she added.
Berg scored Stetson's second goal at 60:26 on a bang-bang play deep in Campbell's box. Gavilsky slipped a nifty pass in to Berg who ripped a shot low that hit the keeper and rebounded right back to her. Second time was the charm as she pounced on it and found the back of the net for her third of the season.
Junior goalkeeper Andrea Garavaglia (Webster Groves, Mo.) made three saves in the game and registered her Atlantic Sun Conference leading fifth shutout of 2009.
"This was a big win for us. Since our sloppy first half against Kennesaw State we have now played five really good halves of soccer", said Orlowski. "Monday will be a big game for us when play Gulf Coast. They are a talented young team. A win there could put us in the driver's seat in conference."
Next up for the Hatters will be the conference-leading Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (7-3-1, 2-0-0) on Monday at 7:00 p.m. in DeLand. The Eagles will host Campbell on Saturday before making the trip north to play Stetson.
