KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team scored two goals in the second half to come away with a big 2-0 Atlantic Sun Conference win over Stetson on Friday night at KSU Soccer Stadium.

The win moves the Owls back to .500 on the season with a record of 6-6-1 (2-3 A-Sun), while the loss drops the Hatters to 2-9-1 (1-3 A-Sun) for the year. The victory also moves the Black and Gold to an impressive mark of 5-2-1 at KSU Soccer Stadium this season.

Kennesaw State dominated play in the first half constantly putting pressure on the Stetson defense as it seemed that the Owls lived in the Hatters defensive third for most of the period.

The KSU attacking pressure led to a several quality scoring chances in the first half, but just as the case was in Jacksonville last weekend the Black and Gold couldn’t finish their opportunities. Kennesaw State outshot Stetson 12-4 in the first half, but the two teams went into the locker room tied at 0-0.

The Owls could have gotten frustrated, but they kept disciplined and finally broke through on a Brittany Vining goal in the 71st minute. The play started off with redshirt-freshman Katrina Frost knocking the ball down the right side to a streaking Shelby Cosby. Cosby carried the ball down the right side until she saw Vining cutting in towards goal at the far post. Cosby hit a nice cross right to the feet of Vining who slipped it past Stetson goalkeeper Grace Turner on the far post to give KSU a 1-0 lead.

Vining’s goal was her fourth of the season and it also moves her into a tie with Maria Rupert for ninth place on the all-time Kennesaw State goals list with 13 for her career. Frost also picked up her first assist of her collegiate career on the play extending her A-Sun leading point total to 21 for the season.

Things started to get chippy after the goal as Stetson picked up a yellow card in the 81st minute and then Turner got a red card in the 82nd minute. Sophomore Kelsey Barr was award a penalty kick for the red card and she calmly buried it to extend the Kennesaw State lead to 2-0.

Barr’s converted penalty kick now makes 10 straight successful PK conversions for the Black and Gold as they haven’t missed a penalty kick in over two years. 

That was all the support junior goalkeeper Melissa Hutto would need as she picked up her fourth shutout of the season. The Pensacola, Fla. native also moved into third place on the all-time Kennesaw State saves list passing Katie Piotrowski with 76 saves now for her career.

“The girls were superb tonight,” head coach Rob King said. “We dominated the game from start to finish. To get the points against Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday we will need to play that strong defensively and be a little more clinical inside the box.” 

The Owls registered a season-high 14 corner kicks in the win, and they also outshot Stetson 23-8 in the match.

The Black and Gold will look to carry this momentum into their final home match of the 2011 season on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Florida Gulf Coast.  Sunday is also senior day for Kennesaw State as seniors Cosby, Alyssa Mahan, Kristin Marietta, Lauren Ruffini, Katie Schwartz, Katie Scott and Vining will all be honored.

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