KSU lost its first Atlantic Sun Conference match of the schedule on Friday to the visiting East Tennessee State Lady Bucs (8-3, 2-1 A-Sun), 3-1, in front of 427 fans at KSU Stadium.
The Owls were trying to earn their first conference win of the campaign after battling to a 1-1 tie with arch-rival Mercer last weekend.
ETSU used two goals in the second-half to fend of the Black and Gold attack.
“We were disappointed that we were not able to execute on everything we created in the second half, but overall there was a lot to be taken from the second half,” head coach Rob King said.
“I thought first half we did not play very well,” King said. “We really did not connect our passes at all and we looked panicky.”
Things did look good for the Owls in the beginning of the contest, as sophomore Nicole Calder scored the match’s first goal of the game off a brilliant feed from Jewelia Strickland.
ETSU was able to quickly respond less than ten minutes later with a goal from Ramey Kerns. The Lady Bucs never looked back, and the Owls struggled into the break.
“To be tied at half time, I thought we were quite fortunate,” King said. “We spoke about possessing the ball, connecting on our passes and we did a much better job of that in the second half.”
KSU was outshot 10-7 in the first half and outshot the Lady Bucs 10-5 in the second frame. However, ETSU was able to sneak two more goals past senior goalkeeper Melissa Hutto to pull away from the Owls.
Jasmine Dutton scored her first goal of the year for ETSU in the 70th minute, and Sarah Zadrazil scored her fourth of the season just ten minutes later.
