Kennesaw State Falls to Jacksonville, 1-0

September 30, 2011

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team lost a closely contested Atlantic Sun Conference matchup to Jacksonville on Friday night by a score of 1-0 at the Ashley Sports Complex.

The loss drops the Owls to 5-5-1 (1-2-0 A-Sun) on the season, while the win improves the Dolphins to 6-4-2 (2-0-1 A-Sun) for the year.

Kennesaw State had the first quality scoring opportunity of the match on a counter attack in the 20^th minute. Senior Katie Scott did a good job of driving through the midfield leaving the ball to the feet of redshirt-freshman Katrina Frost. Frost fired a shot from 20 yards out that Jacksonville goalkeeper Sarah Sierra mishandled, but KSU couldn’t capitalize keeping the game scoreless.

The first half was one dominated by defense as neither teams had many quality chances with the majority of the period being played in the midfield.

Senior Shelby Cosby nearly got the Black and Gold on the board in the 51^st minute as a bouncing ball off a free kick found her feet inside the box. The Albany, Ga. native had her initial shot saved, and her rebound attempt sailed just over the crossbar.

Jacksonville broke through the KSU defense in the 70^th minute as the Dolphins hit a cross into the box that Arianne Heaton headed past Kennesaw State goalkeeper Melissa Hutto on the near post to give the Dolphins a 1-0 lead.

KSU pressed up in the final minutes, but couldn’t score the equalizer as the game ended with a final score of 1-0.

“It was a good, even game tonight,” head coach Rob King said. “We’re pleased with the performance, but not the result. The first team to score was always going to win this one. We missed a couple of half chances, they stuck one away and that was the difference.”

Frost led the Owls in shots with five, while Hutto made seven saves in the game.

Kennesaw State wraps up its two-game road trip in the Sunshine state at North Florida on Sunday at 1 p.m.