KSU’s soccer team evened its conference record (1-1-1) on Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 victory over the USC Upstate Spartans (2-11, 0-4 A-Sun) at KSU Stadium.
The Owls, who fell at the hands of East Tennessee State on Friday night, to the tune of 3-1, had little trouble against USC Upstate’s attack.
“I was very pleased with the game,” head coach Rob King said after the match. “We controlled it from start to finish. We generated a lot of chances.”
KSU outshot the Spartans by a staggering margin, 20 to five, and recorded five corner kicks to USC Upstate’s single corner in the second frame.
King praised the Spartans’goalkeeper, Sarah Plantz, despite her tough night that did include five saves against the Owls aggressive offense.
“Their keeper came up very big and had a fantastic game. She kept them in the game as there could have been a lot more goals. She came up big many, many times for them,” King said.
KSU freshman Danielle Gray put the Owls on top in the 19th minute of action with a header off an assist from Jewlia Strickland. Strickland handled a cross from an Owls corner kick and sent it back Gray’s way. It was Gray’s team-leading sixth goal of the season.
Senior Liz Blackburn gave the Owls a comfortable 2-0 lead just before the half for her first goal of the year, receiving an assist from redshirt sophomore Katrina Frost.
The Owls never looked back, earning their third score of the shutout in the 66th minute when Kelsey Barr capitalized on a penalty kick that followed an illegal tackle by the Spartans’ Plantz.
KSU saw a good effort from its secondary goalkeeper, senior Lauren Roberts, who posted four saves during the entire 90 minutes of action.
With the win, the Owls stayed put in the middle of the Atlantic Sun Conference standings, sitting in sixth place (5-6-1, 1-1-1 A-Sun).
Of the undefeated in the conference are Florida Gulf Coast (4-0-0), Mercer (2-0-1), Jacksonville (2-0-1) and North Florida (2-0-1).
KSU will travel in conference for the first time this Friday when it heads to Northern Kentucky University for its first ever match against the conference’s newest member. The Owls will follow that with a road contest in Nashville against Lipscomb on Sunday afternoon.