Video by Jesse Martinez, Valeree Del Guidice and Joslyn Simmons

Under the beaming sun, North Florida women’s soccer(5-1) defeated the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds 2-1 at Hodges Stadium on Sept. 3

With the victory, the Ospreys clinched their fifth straight win for the 2017 season.

Before the match, UNF took the time to honor former goalkeeper Victoria Ekeli, who lost her father in a car crash, with a jersey for the avid Osprey supporter. The game was dedicated in his honor.

Just under three minutes in, a corner kick set up Osprey forward Krista Colubiale’s header score to the first goal of the match.

“She’s great at that. She scored several goals like that off of corner kicks so she times really well,” head coach Robin Confer said on Colubiale’s ability to score.

North Florida struck again halfway through the first half when Thais Reiss kicked the ball in the back of the net. Only 24 seconds later, Blackbirds’ forward Jenn Peters capitalized on a confused Ospreys’ defense to cut the lead to one point.

Heading into halftime, UNF held a 2-1 lead over LIU Brooklyn.

In the second half, both teams had multiple chances to add another goal on the scoreboard.

North Florida had 11 shots compared to three for LIU Brooklyn in the half.

“We still have to start finishes some of our chances, we created a lot of them in the second half,” Confer said.

Despite the opportunities in the physical matchup, which handed Reiss a yellow card late in the game,the score remained the same as the final seconds ticked away.

UNF outshot LIU Brooklyn 20 to 9 for the entire game. 11 shots were on goal for the Ospreys while 5 were from the Blackbirds.

The Ospreys hit the road to face Furman in Greenville, SC on Sept.8 at 7 pm.

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