DeLand, Fla. - The Stetson women's soccer team suffered a disappointing 3-2 loss to USF in double-overtime Sunday at the Stetson Soccer Complex.
After playing even at 2-2 through two halves plus one overtime period it seemed that the Hatters had pulled out a win midway through the second overtime. Courtney Jenista (Pensacola, Fla.) pounced on a ball that was bouncing around in front of the goal and blasted it into the back of the net. Although jubilant, the celebration was short-lived after the referee called back the goal. According to the official, he had blown the whistle when it appeared the goalkeeper was in partial possession of the ball at the time of the shot.
Less than three minutes later at the other end of the field South Florida's Chelsea Klotz scored the game-winning goal and the game came to an unfortunate end for the home team.
The end, however, did not take away from a tremendous effort by the Hatters. Senior Heather Berg (Fort Myers, Fla.) was outstanding on the offensive end of the field scoring her first two goals of the season.
After heading into the half down by a goal Berg tied the game early in the second on a penalty kick. Five minutes later she put the home team up by one after being set up by Katie Bitetto (Jacksonville, Fla.). Bitetto sent a nifty through ball to Berg who then beat a defender and the keeper. It was the third assist of the season for Bitetto who is second in the conference in that category.
USF's Noelle Pineiro scored in the 73rd minute to tie the game and set up the overtime showdown.
"Although we are unsatisfied with the finish, overall it was a great effort by our team", said Stetson Head Coach Julie Orlowski. "If we can play with this type of intensity we should be very successful in conference play."
Stetson begins its annual conference quest next week when they travel to Georgia to play Kennesaw State on Friday (7:00 p.m.) and Mercer on Sunday (2:00 p.m.).
"We had a lot of players who played very well today. Congratulations to Heather for scoring her first two goals of the season", said Orlowski. "Hermosa and Cromwell worked very hard along with Tessa (Gavilsky). All three played 107 minutes. We were also pleased with (Kassandra) Hartwick and (Crossley) Simmons."
