By: by Matthew Farhadi
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team will not get a chance to defend their Atlantic Sun Conference title as they fell to No. 1 seeded Jacksonville, 3-0, in a hard-fought semifinal match on Thursday night.
Jacksonville looked to score the first goal of the match in the ninth minute of play, but the Owls trademark offside trap worked to perfection to keep the game scoreless to the dismay of the home crowd.
The Dolphins eventually got on the scoreboard in the 17th minute of the match on a goal by Courtney Conrad that squirted underneath the grasp of Kennesaw State goalkeeper
Staci Pugh into the right side of the net.
Conrad extended the Jacksonville lead to 2-0 in the 52nd minute as she dribbled towards the middle of the box and ripped a shot with her left foot that beat Pugh on her left side.
Kennesaw State switched its formation a few minutes after the second Jacksonville goal putting an extra player forward to try and get more pressure offensively, but the Owls couldn’t get anything going in the attacking third for most of the night.
Conrard finished off the scoring in the 73rd minute making the score 3-0 as she recorded a hat trick in the match.
Jacksonville outshot Kennesaw State 18-8, and the Dolphins had a 5-1 edge on corner kicks in the match.
For seniors
Caroline Austin,
Savannah Duet, Pugh and
Sadjr Williams the contest is the final match of their excellent careers.
The loss ends the Owls season with an overall record of 8-8-3, while it sets up a final between No. 1 Jacksonville and No. 2 Mercer who won the other semifinal match earlier in the day over No. 6 Stetson, 5-0.
The championship match will still be played in Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday, November 6 at 1 p.m.
