Sunday, October 16, 2011

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The University of North Florida women's soccer team used four goals from four different players to earn a 4-0 victory over Lipscomb on Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Ospreys clinched a spot in the Atlantic Sun Tournament.

“This was the type of complete game we know we can play,” Head Coach Linda Hamilton said. “Anytime the offense and the defense both play that well, we're very difficult to beat.”

UNF controlled the game from the start, making multiple runs into the Lady Bisons' defensive third and tallying two shots on goal inside of six minutes.

Sophomore forward Carolina Lencina broke through first for the Ospreys, finding the back of the net early in the 14tth minute. Fellow sophomore forward Lauren Hopfensperger did much of the heavy lifting on the goal, beating her defender off the dribble into the right side of the box. After taking her touch almost to the endline, Hopfensperger fired a pass across the mouth of the goal that Lencina was able to poke inside the far post to give UNF an early 1-0 lead.

Junior midfielder Kathryne Husted would find the net just two minutes later to double the Ospreys' lead. This time, it was Lencina with the setup, as the sophomore dribbled into the top of the box before dropping a pass to Husted. With her first touch, Husted fired a shot over the arms of Lipscomb goalkeeper Erin Zerio that dipped just under the crossbar to make the score 2-0 in favor of UNF.

Despite the Ospreys outshooting Lipscomb 9-0 in the first half, the teams carried the 2-0 scoreline into halftime. After the break, UNF kept the pressure up, squeezing of five shots within the first 15 minutes of the second half. Lipscomb also tallied what would end up being the Lady Bisons' only shot of the game when midfielder Danielle Bethke forced a diving save out of UNF goalkeeper Megan Dorsey.

In the 76th minute, junior forward Michele Larrinaga essentially put the game out of reach with a third goal for the Ospreys. After a defender headed a cross out to the top of the box, Larrinaga pounced on the bouncing ball and fired a low shot through the defense that tucked itself just inside the far post.

Senior Denisse Soltero cleaned up an Osprey counterattack to finish the scoring in the 78th minute. After Larrinaga drilled a 1-on-1 shot that Bethke was able to parry away, Soltero swooped in and poked the ball into an almost-empty net to give UNF the 4-0 victory.