Women's Soccer Downs The Citadel 4-2 in Opening Exhibition

Friday, August 10

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

The Citadel (exh.)

Photo by: JD Hysler

8/10/2012 10:07:00 PM | Women's Soccer

By: UNF Athletics

UNF-The Citadel Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The University of North Florida women's soccer team took an early 3-0 lead and then held off a charge to beat The Citadel 4-2 in their opening exhibition match at Hodges Stadium on Friday evening.

"We're very glad to get the first game under our belt and get a victory to start the year," Head Coach Linda Hamilton said. "There were definitely things we were happy with and things we need to work on, but I'm very proud of the girls' effort and I thought they did very well."

Sophomore forward Kathryn Shafer opened the scoring in the fourth minute. After junior Thea Linkfield headed a corner kick towards the goal, the save fell to Shafer's feet and the sophomore drilled the rebound into the net to give the Ospreys a quick 1-0 lead.

In the 20th minute, senior forward Michele Larrinaga doubled UNF's lead with the help of a slick touch in front of net. After Linkfield found some space on the left side, she slotted a cross into the area to an unmarked Larrinaga. The senior took a deft first touch around the Citadel goalkeeper and finished easily with her second touch to make the margin 2-0.

Sophomore midfielder Alexi Zaremba notched a third Osprey goal in the 34th minute when she bent in a free kick from 25 yards. Larrinaga was again involved as she was dragged down just outside the penalty area to set up the spot kick. Zaremba fired a shot that skimmed just over the wall before falling just under the cross bar to put the Ospreys up 3-0.

The Citadel pulled one back before halftime, as junior Mariana Garcia buried a penalty kick to cut the Bulldogs' deficit to 3-1.

UNF outshot The Citadel 13-5 in the first half, taking six corner kicks to the Bulldogs' one.

Junior Jillian Meyer scored the Bulldogs' second goal in the 69th minute. Following a corner kick, the ball was jostled amongst a group of players before Meyer seized upon a rebound and poked the ball into the back of the net to make the score 3-2.

The teams remained scoreless until the 90th minute, when the Ospreys grabbed a fourth via the counterattack. Sophomore Sam Scalf pounced on a breakaway down the right side before firing a pass across to Larrinaga, who needed just two touches to score her second goal of the game and end the scoring at 4-2.

The Ospreys tallied 22 shots on the evening, while allowing just 12 from The Citadel. Bulldog goalkeeper Sarah Katchen was forced to make eight saves, while junior Bri Swift, in her first-ever minutes in goal for the Ospreys, made five saves.

UNF is back in action at on Sunday morning, as they welcome Florida International to Hodges Stadium in the second of its two exhibition matches. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m.