Kron scores her fourth to send ETSU back to the postseason

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 14, 2012) -- Junior Samantha Kron (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) provided all the scoring the ETSU women's soccer team needed on Sunday afternoon, and the Lady Bucs clinched a berth into the 2012 Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship by defeating Lipscomb, 1-0, on Senior Day at Summers-Taylor Stadium.

ETSU (11-4-0, 5-2-0 A-Sun) outshot Lipscomb (2-10-4, 0-6-2 A-Sun) 28-5 in the game, but Bisons keeper Erin Zerio came up with 13 saves to hold the Lady Bucs to just one goal. Zerio did not stop Kron in the 17th minute, as the junior defender sent in her fourth goal of the year off a free kick that bounced through the box.

“We started the game strongly and controlled possession well,” said ETSU head coach Adam Sayers, who has coached the Lady Bucs to each of their last two A-Sun Tournament berths. “We created chances from both central and wide areas, but [Lipscomb’s] goalkeeper had a fantastic game.”

A few of Zerio’s saves came off shots from Ramey Kerns (Kings Mountain, N.C.), who took a career-high 10 attempts. Kerns was unlucky not to have scored on one chance in particular, which slid by Zerio but hit off the left post. Freshman Alexa Passingham (Leicestershire, England) beat Zerio on an attempt later in the second half, but Lipscomb midfielder Callie Cavanaugh cleared the ball off the goal line.

Despite not putting in a few extra goals, the Lady Bucs still captured three points and will play for the 2012 A-Sun Tournament Championship. The six-team field is set heading into the final weekend of play, with ETSU, Mercer, FGCU, Kennesaw State, North Florida and Jacksonville all clinching spots.

Where those six teams will be seeded is a different story. As for ETSU, it sits just two points behind Mercer for first place, and can still capture the tournament’s No. 1 seed with two victories and some favorable results next weekend.

Although ETSU took 23 more shots than Lipscomb on Sunday, it was Cavanaugh who took the game’s first attempt which sailed high of the crossbar.

The Bisons best chance of the game also came in the opening stages, when Baylee Linnell was one-on-one with ETSU keeper Kara Krajenta (Cordova, Tenn.). Linnell put her shot to Krajenta’s left, and the ETSU freshman made an outstanding save to keep the Bisons off the board. It wound up being Krajenta’s only save of the game, as she earned her first collegiate shutout.

From there, it was all ETSU. Freshman Sarah Zadrazil (St. Gilgen, Austria) was fouled near the top-left corner of the box, setting up a free kick for Kron. The set-piece specialist put a ball in toward the right post that missed everybody and bounced through for Kron’s fourth goal of the season. All four of the junior’s scores have come via free kicks.

“I just tried to get it in there so somebody could get a foot on it and score,” said Kron, who scored two of ETSU’s three goals this weekend. “It wound up going in.”

Kron has a knack for scoring unintentional goals off free kicks. On Friday against Northern Kentucky, she scored a very similar goal off a free kick that bounced through the 18-yard box untouched. In September, she sent in a free kick from near midfield that a Longwood defender attempted to clear. The ball hit off the wrong part of the Lancer’s foot, and went backwards and in for an ETSU goal.

Kerns’ post shot followed. The nation’s leading goal scorer made her way through the right side of the box, and slipped a rolling ball past Zerio that smacked the left post.

ETSU went into halftime up a goal, and improved its record to 9-0 when holding a halftime lead.

The Lady Buccaneer back line did not allow the Bisons a single shot in the second half, the first time it has held a team to no shots for 45 minutes all year. Meanwhile ETSU took 15 shot attempts in the half, and appeared destined for a second score that never came.

The best chance came in the 83rd minute, when Passingham took the second of her two shots in the game. Her first was saved by Zerio early the second half, but her second was driven by the Lipscomb keeper, only to be cleared away at the goal line by Cavanaugh.

It total, 11 different Lady Buccaneers – Kron, Kerns, Passingham, Zadrazil, Morgan Thomas (Maryville, Tenn.), Ellis Parsons (Cardiff, Wales), Megan Wynne (St. Albans, England), Hannah Short (Bristol, England), Emilee Engelhaupt (Charlotte, N.C.), Hannah Goffe (Birmingham, England) and Katherine Musacchio (Nashville, Tenn.) – took shots on the day, but Kron’s was the only to find the back of the net.

The ETSU women’s soccer team will head to Jacksonville, Fla. for its final two games of the regular season next weekend, as it takes on Jacksonville and North Florida.

ETSU Notes

- ETSU clinched a berth to the 2012 Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship. ETSU has played in the A-Sun Tournament seven of its eight seasons in the conference.

- Seniors Ramey Kerns, Morgan Thomas and Katherine Musacchio were honored pregame.

- ETSU kept its halftime lead and moved to 9-0 this year when leading at the break.

- Junior Samantha Kron scored her fourth goal of the season, and the sixth of her three-year career. All four of Kron’s goals this season have come by way of a free kick.

- Freshman Kara Krajenta earned her first collegiate shutout. She and fellow freshman keeper Sierra Campbell combined for a shutout last weekend against USC Upstate.

TextCaster                                       

ETSU fans wanting to receive Buccaneer news, score updates, in-game promotions and much more sent to their mobile device can do so by signing up for “Buc Updates.” Click here to sign up today!

For more information on ETSU women’s soccer, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s soccer links.