Lady Ospreys slip in season finale

Thursday, October 30

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

Jacksonville University

Elizabeth Gowan ended her career at UNF by taking three shots on Thursday

10/30/2008 10:03:10 PM | Women's Soccer

Jacksonville notched a 1-0 win on Thursday

By: Adam Jonson, UNF Athletics

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In a match that featured five yellow cards and two red cards, the University of North Florida women's soccer team fell just short in a SunTrust River City Rumble against Jacksonville on a cool Thursday night, ending the season with a 1-0 loss.

“This is a great rivalry and a fitting match to end the season with,” UNF head coach Linda Hamilton said. “Of course, we wanted to end the season with a win, especially considering the opponent. We played well today but could not finish our scoring opportunities.”

UNF (6-11-2, 3-6-1 A-Sun) took control of the first half about 15 minutes into the contest, putting JU (9-8-1, 6-4-0) on its heels for the majority of the first half. The Lady Ospreys created multiple opportunities to net the first goal, but the Dolphin defense tightened each time and sent the match to halftime with no score.

Senior goalkeeper Erica Lippitt played a big role in keeping the Dolphins off the scoreboard in the first half. She intercepted numerous crosses and made an incredible save 10 yards in front of the net with less than three minutes remaining in the first half. Lippitt finished the match with four saves.

“Erica ended her career in impressive form,” Hamilton said. “I am extremely proud of her and her performance. She should keep holding her head high because she did a great job for us.”

The lone goal of the match came seven minutes after the second half began. On one of its six corner kicks, JU broke the scoreless tie when Devon Dowell assisted Jessica Hurtado's third goal of the season.

Both teams ended the match playing ten players due to red cards on JU's Katie Orr and UNF's Kady Dearing. Despite being one player short for a little less than 15 minutes, the Dolphins survived the Lady Ospreys constant pressure, which resulted in six shots on goal for the match.

“We just couldn't score,” Hamilton said. “We played very well and created the situations we wanted, but we simply never put the ball in the net.”

Despite finishing the season below the 2007 team's win percentage, Hamilton feels that her 2008 squad showed improvement and signs of even better things to come in the future.

“Even though the results don't show it, we were a better team this year than in 2007,” Hamilton said. “I think that showed on the field, but several matches that we couldn't pull out caused our record to drop. Our progress will continue to advance, and we hope that next season our record will show the improvement and help us feel the progress we are making.”