JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Down 2-0 at halftime, Stetson women's soccer put forth a furious rally in the second half but it wasn't enough as the Hatters dropped a 2-1 decision to Atlantic Sun Conference foe North Florida, Friday at Hodges Stadium.
The loss dropped Stetson 1-1 in A-Sun play and 6-5 overall, while UNF improves to 1-1 and 3-8.
The Ospreys took control of the match midway through the second half, scoring two goals in the span of 11 seconds in the 25th minute.
Katy Mixon gave UNF a 1-0 lead when a free kick was deflected by Stetson goalkeeper Kahri Smith directly to Mixon just outside the 7-yard box. The goal was her first of the season.
Before the Hatters could catch their breath, the Ospreys struck again. Krista Colubiale beat the Hatters' defense in a one-on-one situation and chipped a shot over Smith's head as UNF surged to a 2-0 advantage.
The score remained 2-0 until the Hatters got on the board in the 60th minute. Sophomore Sarah Collins netted her team-leading fifth goal of the season when her shot into the upper 90 was true from 18 yards out.
With the lead cut in half, the Hatters went on the attack. Stetson took a total of six shots on-goal in the second half, including three inside of the last 12 minutes. But UNF keeper Victoria Ekeli made four saves after halftime to limit the damage. Ekeli finished the match with five saves in total.
Quoting Stetson head coach Manoj Khettry
“I told the team all week this was going to be a difficult game. We came out flat, we weren't mentally prepared. We had a bad first 20 minutes and then we were down 2-0. This was probably the worst first half we played all year. But we also came back and played maybe our best second half of the season, so I'm proud of them for that effort. We had a lot of good chances in the second half but couldn't capitalize on enough of them.”
“Give a lot of credit to UNF. They out-competed us for long periods and worked harder than we did. You can't spot anyone a 2-0 lead in conference play, especially on the road. I told them I want them to savor the agony of this loss. We need to know how this feels. There we so many controllable factors that we didn't control. I can accept being outplayed, but when we don't do a good job of controlling what we can, this is the result.”
News & Notes
With five goals Sarah Collins has more goals than any Hatter since the 2011 season … her 12 points are also the most since '11 … freshman goalkeeper Janina Scharnbacher saw her most significant action of the season, playing 56 minutes in relief of Kahri Smith … Scharnbacher faced six shots and made two saves.
Up Next
The Hatters step away from conference play when they host South Carolina State, 1 p.m., Sunday at the Athletic Training Center.
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