By: by Matthew Farhadi
Box Score
DeLAND, Fla. – The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team fell in a tough Atlantic Sun Conference road match to the Stetson Hatters, 4-1, on Friday night in front of 227 spectators at the Stetson Soccer Complex.
The win improves the Hatters to 5-7-1 (2-3-0 A-Sun) for the season, while the loss drops the Owls to 6-5-1 (3-2-0 A-Sun) on the year.
Stetson opened the scoring in the 17th minute of the match as Courtney Jenista collected a loose ball right on the goal line and put it in the back of the net to give the Hatters a 1-0 lead.
The Hatters doubled their lead in the 29th minute, putting together a string of passes that resulted in Alyssa Welsh one-timing a ball off her right foot from 10 yards out that beat goalkeeper
Staci Pugh to make the score 2-0.
Stetson kept the pressure on scoring their third goal of the half in the 36th minute as Welsh blasted a shot from 20 yards out that found the top-right corner of the net for her second goal of the half.
The start of the second half saw Stetson pick up right where they left off, as the Hatters scored their fourth goal of the match in the 60th minute. Tessa Gavilsky dribbled around a charging
Melissa Hutto and easily put the ball across the goal like to put Stetson up 4-0.
Kennesaw State got their lone goal of the match in the 61st minute as
Alyssa Mahan made a nice move to get by a Stetson defender, and crossed a ball into the box. The ball found
Katie Scott’s foot and she beat the Stetson keeper from seven yards out for her first goal of the season making the score 4-1.
Mahan continued her solid play in-conference, as she has now recorded a point in four of the Owls five A-Sun matches this season after her assist on Friday evening.
Head Coach Rob King knew all too well that if you fall behind that quickly it is tough to come back.
"We made too many defensive mistakes in the first half and Stetson made us pay," King said. "Our second half was much better, but we dug ourselves too deep of a hole so it was too little, too late. Stetson played very well and thoroughly deserved the result."
Stetson outshot the Owls 15-10 in the match. Scott led the Black and Gold with three shots in the game, while Hutto made three saves.
The Owls continue conference play as they will travel even further south in the Sunshine State to take on Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, Fla. on Sunday, Oct. 3 at 1 p.m.
