University of North Florida
Jacksonville
Lady Ospreys take down JU
9/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 22, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida women's soccer team collected the first point in the 2006-07 edition of the River City Rumble on Friday night with a 3-1 win at Jacksonville University.
The Lady Ospreys (7-1, 1-0 A-Sun) received big contributions from freshmen Katelin Swift and Caitlin Kovacs in front of more than 400 people in the stands. Swift scored a pair of goals, while Swift scored the game winner and drew a key foul in the second half that led to UNF's third goal.
"This game was originally supposed to be played at a neutral site at Patton Park," UNF head coach Mike Munch said. "I wanted us to move it over here because of the environment I thought it would create. I'm happy to see us get off to a 1-0 start in the conference and glad we could do our part to earn a point in the SunTrust River City Rumble standings."
The Lady Ospreys came out of the gates quick with Swift and Kovacs tallying a goal in the first half before JU (5-4, 0-1 A-Sun) cut the lead in half. Swift finally put the game away on a penalty kick in the 71st minute of play.
Both teams traded scoring chances in the first three minutes of play, but came up empty. Swift hit the left post in first 1:30 of play, before JU's Michelle Lavine hit cross bar for JU at the 42:07 mark.
Swift finally got the scoring started 13 minutes into the game, following up an Elizabeth Gowan shot that banked off the left post. The freshman forward was right there for the rebound, giving the Lady Ospreys an early advantage with her fourth goal of the season.
Kovacs gave UNF a 2-0 advantage at the 14:56 mark of the opening half, sliding a ball into the back left corner of the net. Lisa Taylor originally carried the ball into the offensive zone to start the UNF attack. Lauren Winn took over from there with a few nifty moves in the right corner before feeding the ball to Taylor.
Taylor then fed the ball into the middle of a crowd before Courteney Strickland stole it away from a JU defender and fed it to Kovacs for the goal.
That helped UNF carry a 2-0 lead into the half.
JU cut the lead in half in the 68th of play when Lavine took a rebound after a pair of Rachael Howard saves and stuck a left-footed shot past Howard for the goal.
Howard finished the night with four saves, while JU's Michelle Kmiotek had three.
Swift answered JU's tally with her second goal of the game less than three minutes later on a penalty kick.
The Lady Ospreys were awarded the opportunity after Kovacs carried the ball into the JU penalty box on a breakaway before being fouled by a Dolphin defender. Swift took advantage, easing the ball into the right corner of the net to take over the team lead in goals.
"Katelin Swift is from Jacksonville and there are a lot of people who thought she couldn't play at this level," Munch said. "I think she is proving those people wrong."
Swift narrowly missed a chance for her first career hat trick in the 83rd minute of play, shooting wide on a breakaway opportunity down the right side of the field.
Conference action continues for the Lady Ospreys on Sept. 28 when they travel to East Tennessee State.
