The Kennesaw State University women’s’ soccer team ended its regular season with a 2-1 victory against the University of South Carolina Upstate and earned its first winning season since 2012.
The USC Upstate Spartans (0-14-3, 0-6-1 ASUN) looked for their first victory of the season against the Owls (9-7-1, 4-3-0 ASUN), who had already clinched a berth into postseason play but hoped to add one more win to their record.
KSU senior forward Kim Fincher assisted senior midfielder Monica Herrera with her second goal of the season. Just two minutes later, however, the Spartans tied the game.
The first half played out evenly, and it seemed the game could go either way, but the Owls came out with a different attitude for the second half and took complete control of the game.
KSU outshot USC Upstate 12-2 during the second half, but Spartans goalie Brooke Bailey came up with big saves to keep her team in the fight. With 10 minutes left in the game, KSU junior midfielder Kaitlyn Sterling secured the victory as she scored her first career goal as an Owl.
“Monica [Herrera] got her second goal of the year, and Kaitlyn [Sterling] scored her first collegiate goal, which was huge,” head coach Benji Walton said. “I told the girls that, if you are going to win in the playoffs, you have to play your game and someone has to step up, and today we had that happen.”
With Lipscomb University breezing to a 3-0 victory against New Jersey Institute of Technology — and Florida Golf Coast University earning a 1-0 victory against the University of North Florida — the ASUN Conference soccer regular season has come to an end.
KSU finished as the fourth seed and will host fifth-seeded Jacksonville University on Oct. 29 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. The Owls already defeated the Dolphins 2-1 earlier this season.
