The University of North Florida women’s soccer team suffered their first home loss of the season this past Thursday evening against the top ranked team in Florida State University. The Ospreys struggled to get anything going offensively in the 4-0 shutout loss, managing only two shots on goal the whole game.
It didn’t take long for Florida State’s relentless offensive attack to get started, as the Ospreys allowed a goal for the Seminoles on the first shot of the game. Florida State had eight shot attempts in the first 20 minutes of play. But the Ospreys held the Seminoles in check, only allowing two Florida State shot attempts for the rest of the half.
The second half was a whole different story. Midway through the period, the Ospreys allowed three Seminole goals in the span of 15 minutes. The Seminoles’ shot accuracy increased in the final half, scoring three more goals on three fewer shot attempts.
When asked what made Florida State’s offensive attack so difficult to stop, Osprey’s head coach Eric Faulconer gave credit to their quality of players and how they break down every game.
“You’ve got two World Cup players that play for the national team,” Faulconer said. “They play so quickly and they’re so athletic. The early goal was a little rough but I thought we stemmed the tide from there. But they’re really just going to break everybody they play down.”
The national team players certainly had an impact. Judy Brown, a Jamaican national team member, scored two of Florida State’s goals while Onyi Echegini, a Nigerian national team player, netted the other two goals for the Seminoles.
The Ospreys themselves didn’t get a shot on goal until 61 minutes into the game, mainly because of how Florida State seemed to always be on the attack. When asked how the team can get better after this match, coach Faulconer mentioned how the Ospreys won’t see a team like Florida State the rest of the season.
“They’re not going to see a team like this moving forward the rest of the season,” Faulconer said. “That’s why we played it. Listen, we competed tonight. We’re not going to see this in conference play. We’ve played a hard schedule and I think that’s important.”
Thursday’s game was also the most attended North Florida women’s sporting event in history, with a record crowd of 4,549 spectators at Hodges Stadium.
The Ospreys will continue to play at home this weekend as they host Troy University for their final game before conference play. Kickoff will be this Sunday at 1p.m..
Further information about North Florida athletics can be found on the UNF athletics website.
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