The Owls hosted Atlantic Sun Conference newcomers New Jersey Institute of Technology on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Kennesaw. NJIT experienced growing pains in its first conference road game as KSU thumped the Highlanders 6-1.
After a disappointing double overtime loss against Lipscomb in their A Sun opener, the Owls were looking to get back on track at home.
NJIT was the team that started the brightest, pushing forward, testing KSU goalkeeper Ashley Zambetti in the opening minutes. But it was KSU that would score the opener after an Ida Hepsoe corner kick was met by the head of Abby Roth for her second of the season.
It was one way traffic from that point on with the Owls putting six past a forlorn Highlander team that struggled to find any sort of cohesion in the middle after dominating possession in the first part of the opening half.
“Anytime you can score six goals it’s very good,” KSU head coach Rob King said. “But more than the goals I thought it was a game where we put a plan together we wanted to high press them and we did that from the first minute to the last.”
KSU out-shot the opposition by 24 to NJIT’s six, and this time was able to capitalize on the chances created. Much of this can be attributed to the formation that Coach King put out on Saturday. The game started with the team coming out in a 4-3-3, an attacking formation that King went with earlier in the season, and it paid off Saturday.
“We’ll adapt based on who it is that we’re playing and what they try to do,” King said in reference to the formation change. “We have great athleticism. We don’t allow teams time on the ball. I like the pressure that we’re creating, but we have flexibility in that formation as well so we’ll tweak it going forward.”
Injuries have been an issue for King’s team throughout the season. Leading scorer Brittany Reed was ruled out for the season with a knee injury among other key players. “We’ve been missing several players over the last few weeks, so fortunately we’re starting to get them all back healthy,” King said. “This is the time you want everyone available for games, we feel pretty good about that now.”
Saturday also saw the return of junior midfielder Shannon Driscoll after picking up an injury in the first part of the season.
Sophomore defender Abby Roth scored two goals against NJIT to bring her tally to three goals on the season. Cassidy Kemp scored her sixth after hitting the bar just moments earlier, while Khatra Mahdi and Monica Herrera both got on the board as well.
Forward Maggie Gaughan also seems to have recaptured her previous form, scoring one and tallying two assists.
“Very pleased with the performance, lots of chances created, some good individual play, some good combination play and strong defensively as well,” King said. “So all around a good game and good game plan executed.”
The Owls will look to capitalize on this victory going forward into A-Sun Conference play as they go on a two-game road trip before returning home Oct. 16 to face North Florida at 2 p.m.
