By Chris Raimondi, Sports Editor and Jonathan Hicks, Contributor
Kennesaw State’s soccer team finished their weekend home stand with a 1-0 win over Tennessee Chattanooga Friday night and a 1-1 draw against Clayton State in double overtime on Sunday night.
The Owls’ two goals over the weekend were supplied by defender Abby Roth and forward Kim Fincher, as KSU had to look elsewhere for offense after leading scorer Brittney Reed went down with an apparent leg injury against UTC Friday night.
“We are keeping our finger crossed for Brittney and we will see what the medical staff says,” KSU head coach Rob King said.
Reed has seven goals through three games this season.
On Friday, KSU (2-1) opened the match up with a high press to break up UTC’s possession and get the ball forward. Despite a scoreless first half, KSU were pushing for the opening goal with nine shots and shutting out UTC in the opening half, not allowing the Mocs to have a single shot on goal. The entirety of the first half was spent in Chattanooga’s final third as the Owls poked and prodded at a Mocs defense that would prove to bend, but not break.
That is until defender Abby Roth broke the deadlock for the Owls in the 47th minute with a header from a corner kick taken by Ida Hepsoe.
A stark contrast from the first, the second half proved to be a back and forth affair with both sides pushing forward in numbers. KSU, however, managed to out-shoot Chattanooga 19-3.
In the end, Roth’s goal proved to be the difference in a match that ended 1-0 to the home team. “The amount of chances we generated we should really have put the game away earlier than we did,” said, “It’s great that we kept going, it was a clean sheet again and we got a home win. That’s what everyone would like to do, win at home and make it a fortress, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Sunday night’s matchup with CSU nearly produced the same result, but inconsistent play spurned the Owls’ chance at remaining perfect at home this season.
KSU controlled the pace of the game early on, holding possession in the Lakers’ final third often and controlling the midfield. The Owls took 10 shots in the first half, compared to CSU’s two.
Fincher finally put KSU ahead in the 27th minute when she dribbled down the right side of the field past the final defender and buried a shot in between Charlotte McCormack’s legs. The Owls were able to hang on to the lead into halftime.
The Lakers entered the second half with a new sense of urgency and began to increase their physical play. After committing two fouls in the first half, CSU tallied six in the second half. The tough play proved to be successful in the 74th minute when the Lakers finally broke through with the equalizing goal.
Iciar Duran ran down the right flank and delivered a cross to forward Brooke Bortles who finished a header into the back of the net to tie the game.
Both teams traded possession for the duration of the 90 minutes when regulation ended deadlocked. Two overtime period of 10 minutes was assessed, but neither side came up with the decisive golden goal.
“We had a lot of opportunities to put that game away early and we didn’t,” King said. “They hung around and there was a period of time in there where we got a little bit stretched. They played well through their midfield and ended up getting back in the game.”
KSU’s Shannon Driscoll also went down with an injury this weekend during the CSU game and did not return to the game. No updates on any of the injured players have been released.
The Owls have five road games on their schedule before returning home when they take on the Samford Bulldogs at the Marietta Campus Sunday Sept. 20.
