KSU soccer’s perfect start to conference play was snapped on Sunday in Johnson City, Tenn., as the Owls were defeated 2-0 by East Tennessee State.
The defeat ends a winning streak that had increased to four consecutive wins with Friday night’s 3-1 win at USC Upstate in Spartanburg. KSU (6-6, 3-1) entered the ETSU match level at nine points each with Florida Gulf Coast at the top of the Atlantic Sun standings, but the Owls failed to continue their run of good form.
Scoring had not been an issue for KSU recently, averaging 2.33 goals per game during the winning streak. On Sunday, however, the Owls found it much more difficult to get on the scoreboard, even though they recored 16 shots as a team. Katrina Frost and Nicole Calder led the team with four shots each.
“We had opportunities in the first half to go a goal or two up and we did not take them which kept them in the game,” head coach Rob King said to ksuowls.com Sunday afternoon.
ETSU’s Molly Collinson made the Owls pay for missed opportunities when she put the Bucs ahead in the 47th minute. Her left-footed finish that beat Owls goalkeeper Olivia Sturdivant to the bottom-right corner of the goal and started a second half in which KSU showed symptoms of a team playing its second game of the weekend in as many states.
“Second half we were a little slow to the ball, defended poorly a couple of times and they got the goals that counted,” King said.
An insurance goal came for ETSU in the 76th minute when Kristi Davis snuck between the KSU center backs to run onto a pass from Sarah Zadrazil. Davis chipped over Sturdivant to finish off the Owls.
Despite the loss, KSU remains just a point out of first place since FGCU could only manage a draw against Lipscomb on Sunday. Third-place Mercer will be the next opponent for the Owls on Friday night in Macon.
