Women's Soccer Downs SC State in Home Opener, 2-0

Friday, August 24

Jacksonville, Fla.

6 p.m.

University of North Florida

1-2

South Carolina State

2-1

South Carolina St.

North Florida

Photo by: JD Hysler

8/24/2012 8:39:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: UNF Athletics

Box Score (PDF)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The University of North Florida women's soccer team used a pair of goals from junior forward Thea Linkfield to take down South Carolina State 2-0 on Friday evening at Hodges Stadium.

“We're very happy with the result tonight,” Head Coach Linda Hamilton said. “It was important for us to get on track and we did a great job tonight of coming out with a lot of energy and taking the game to them.”

Linkfield opened the scoring just 3:01 into the match on an assist from junior forward Carolina Lencina. After Lencina beat a defender down the right side, she played a perfect cross that Linkfield met with her head in stride and popped over Bulldog goalkeeper Mariah Hebbe's outstretched hands.

In the 13th minute, freshman defender Lanie Keating came a fingertip away from doubling the Ospreys' lead. After UNF earned a free kick 35 yards from the net, Keating curled the spot kick in only to have Hebbe deflect it just enough for it to carom off the crossbar.

The Ospreys headed into the break with a 5-3 advantage in shots, but had not yet recorded a corner kick, while South Carolina St. had tallied three.

Linkfield completed her brace in the 50th minute, again by way of a Carolina Lencina assist. The pair combined on a give-and-go down the left side to spring Linkfield into the box. After a pair of touches, the junior forward buried her second goal to the far post to give the Ospreys their eventual 2-0 winning margin.

After an evenly-matched first period, the Ospreys grabbed an 8-2 on shots in the second half, earning a 13-5 advantage for the match. Sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Beninati made four saves for the Ospreys to earn her second career shutout. Hebbe recorded one save for the Bulldogs.

“We're very happy to get our home season started with a good victory,” Hamilton said. “We had an amazing crowd and great support tonight, so we're going to look to keep all that going.”

UNF is in action at Hodges Stadium again on Sunday afternoon, as they take on the Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb at 12:30 p.m. Live stats will be available on UNFOspreys.com, or following along on Twitter by following @OspreyWSOC.