Late Heroics Lift Women's Soccer to Overtime Win at NKU

Sunday, September 23

Highland Heights, KY

Noon

University of North Florida

-461, 20 ASun

Northern Kentucky

-37, 02 ASun

OT 2

North Florida

Northern Kentucky

Photo by: Todd Drexler

9/23/2012 2:20:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: UNF Athletics

Box Score (PDF)

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- Senior Kathryne Husted scored the tying goal in the 88th minute and senior Michele Larrinaga notched the game-winner in the 10th minute of overtime to give the University of North Florida women's soccer team a 3-2 victory at Northern Kentucky on Sunday afternoon.

The victory marks the second consecutive match in which the Ospreys have come back from a one-goal deficit twice in a single match and earned a win.

"This was, overall, a really great weekend for us," Head Coach Linda Hamilton said. "The ladies just kept battling and never gave in against a really good team. I'm incredibly proud of them."

The first half of play was mostly uneventful. Martha Staab scored the opening period's only goal for NKU in the 38th minute. Staab controlled a pass from Kathryn Hale and fired a low shot that found the corner of the net to put the Norse on top, 1-0.

At halftime, the teams were evenly matched, as both UNF and NKU had tallied four shots and had yet to force a save out of the opposing keeper.

Shortly after halftime, junior forward Carolina Lencina equalized for the Ospreys with her third goal of the season. In the 53rd minute, she corralled a rebound and buried the second chance to tie the game at 1-1. Junior forward Lauren Hopfensperger notched her second assist of the weekend on the play.

The Norse went back on top in the 62nd minute, as Kelsey Zwergel received a pass from Allizon Ponzer and fired a shot from 15 yards that floated just over the outstretched hands of UNF goalkeeper Rachel Beninati to make the score 2-1 in favor of NKU.

Though the Ospreys consistently pressed forward for an equalizer, they were not able to find one until the waning minutes. After a UNF corner kick, Husted was able poke a loose ball into the net to knot things up at 2-2 in the 88th minute. It was the senior's third goal of the season.

UNF almost scored the game-winner less than a minute later, as a shot from Lencina in the 89th minute forced a save from NKU goalkeeper Stephanie Glass. At the end of regulation, the Ospreys had racked up an 18-11 lead in shots and had put 10 shots on goal, compared to NKU's four.

Larrinaga grabbed the game-winner in the waning moments of the first overtime period. With just 14 second remaining, the senior fielded a deflected pass from junior Thea Linkfield and calmly tallied her third goal of the season to give the Ospreys a 3-2 victory.

"We did a lot of things this weekend that we can build on moving forward," Hamilton said. "It's huge to get two road wins to start conference play."

With the win, UNF opens A-Sun play with a 2-0 record and sit at 4-6-1 overall. NKU falls to 0-2 in their inaugural season of A-Sun competition and is 3-7 overall.

The Ospreys will be back in action on Friday evening, as they welcome cross-town rival Jacksonville to Hodges Stadium for a 7 p.m. match. It will be UNF's first home game since Sept. 2. Links to live stats and streaming will be available on UNFOspreys.com.