JU women's soccer uses dominant second half to down The Citadel, 3-0
Dolphin defense posts first shutout of young season
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. August 27, 2010 - The JU women's soccer team had a second half to remember on Friday afternoon, scoring three goals, including two in the last four minutes, to down The Citadel, 3-0, in a dominant performance at The Citadel/Nike Invitational.
The Dolphins (2-1) outshot the Bulldogs (0-1), 19-5, including a 12-3 edge in a second half that saw the green and gold control play throughout the 45 minutes. Leading the way for JU were goal scorers Lisa Hensley, Jelena Vrcelj and Emily Culbreth, all scoring their first goal's of the young season.
"We had a great team effort today," said JU head coach Brian Copham. "I was really pleased with the way we pushed in the second half to get on the board. The Citadel is a really tough team to play at home and we're very happy to come away with this result."
The Dolphins played through a frustrating first half, creating several promising opportunities including a breakaway chance that was left begging. A shot from freshman Raquel Weckhurst was heading for the back of the net at the end of the first half and crossed the line a split-second after the horn sounded.
Six minutes into the second half, the frustration would end as redshirt junior Liz Fink made a great run down the wing and picked out forward Hensley and the sophomore buried the goal on a header. With the goal, Hensley recorded her first points of the season while Fink added to her team-leading point total.
The Dolphins would keep pushing, looking to pad the lead, but the elusive second goal failed to come to fruition for over 37 minutes until freshman forward Courtney Conrad turned the corner and laid a ball across for Vrcelj to finish.
Catching fire from the second score, the Dolphins immediately applied pressure from the kick and pushed for a third. Culbreth found herself with a difficult angle but hammered a ball to the far post, finding the upper corner for the smooth finish.
Junior goalie Alexa Rooney was called upon just twice while, on the other end, the Dolphins served six corners into the box.
The Dolphins will play their last match of the weekend on Sunday afternoon when they travel across town to face Charleston Southern at 1 p.m. Live stats can be found at http://csusports.athleticsite.net/livestats/SOC/xlive.htm