On Thursday night at Hodges Stadium, the North Florida women’s soccer team shutout West Georgia 3-0 in its ASUN conference opener.
Redshirt junior Allie Fekany secured her first career brace, scoring a goal in both halves, and the Ospreys held West Georgia shotless in frame one. After netting two goals in the first ten minutes, UNF relied on its defense and continuous ball control to secure its first ASUN win.
Half One
In the opening ten minutes, UNF scored goals on its first two shot attempts. During minute three, redshirt junior Isabella Pontieri notched her tenth career goal on a strike just beyond the box.
West Georgia struggled to possess the ball in the first ten minutes. The Wolves whiffed on many boot attempts, something UNF capitalized on in the early minutes. Nearly six minutes later, Fekany headed a kick from Pontieri that bounced off the crossbar, doubling UNF’s score.
Pontieri assisted or scored on all three UNF goals, extending her team’s lead in both categories. For the rest of the half, continued to find Allison Souers on the left corner of the field, manufacturing multiple shot attempts.
Even though head coach Eric Faulconer thought his team took their foot off the gas, UNF still headed to the locker room with a comfortable 2-0 halftime lead.
Half Two
Three minutes into the final frame, West Georgia registered its first shot of the game. While it looked like the Wolves were finding some momentum, the Ospreys quickly responded with a corner kick, leading to Fekany’s second goal.
Despite allowing three goals, West Georgia goalkeeper Emily Sanabria recorded 10 saves, including one in the 51st minute. However, after Sanabria deflected a UNF shot attempt, Fekany found the weak side, firing North Florida’s third goal with no contest.
As the game wound down, both teams made defensive substitutions and UNF started playing keep away. Once the game ended, West Georgia ran sprints for a couple of minutes, likely signaling how the coaches felt about their performance.
Heading into this game, West Georgia had won two of its final three games, with both games being shutouts. Overall, West Georgia has already matched last year’s win total.
Coaches Comments
One game removed from tallying a career high in saves, freshman goalkeeper Chrissa Avery secured her first career clean sheet. Following the game, Faulconer mentioned the importance of fast starts and winning home ASUN games.
“For us to have a chance here in the division, to get up to the top, we’re going to have to make sure that we take care of business here at Hodges,” Faulconer said. “Our players like playing here and so it’s kind of what we scripted and they got the result we needed.”
In addition, Faulconer reacted to his 50th win, making him the program’s all-time winningest Division One coach. Taking attention away from his accomplishment, Faulconer credited his players, who he said are the ones who “win those games.”
“We’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of good teams, and so all the credit goes to them and our coaching staff,” Faulconer said. “It’s nice to get to that point but hopefully we can add to that.”
UNF will look to add to Faulconer’s win total when it hosts Queens on Sunday, Sept. 21. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. inside Hodges Stadium.
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