Jacksonville women fall to Kennesaw State

 KENNESAW, Ga. -  Nov. 5, 2009  On a frigid night in Kennesaw, Ga., the Jacksonville University women's soccer team fell just short of the A-Sun finals, falling to Kennesaw State, 1-0 (ot)

The Dolphins (8-7-5, 5-1-4 Atlantic Sun) couldn't convert on several opportunities and, in the end, it was the Owls (10-6-0, 7-3-0).

"I'm really proud of the effort we put forth tonight," said head coach Brian Copham. "We never stopped fighting and when we needed to dig deep we did against a strong, well-coached team.

"I want to thank our three seniors, Regan Riley, Krissy Toth and Brittney Hernandez, for all their contributions to the program and we're going to use this experience in preparation for next year."

The Owls opened the first 15 minutes with several opportunities coming from set pieces but the Dolphins would counter beautifully after a great play from the defense.

After a tap by an Owl on the free kick, two Dolphins attacked the ball and found themselves breaking the other way. Freshman Becca Massip found freshman Lisa Hensley who played a great ball to sophomore Jessica Hurtado. Hurtado's shot was on goal and just saved by Staci Pugh and with the ball cleared out, Liz Fink fired another shot between the posts but the ball was saved again for a corner.

Hensley found herself with space at the top of the goal after a tidy pass from freshman Eva Leeper. Hensley's shot just couldn't beat Pugh's left side and the ball was cleared out.

Kennesaw would swing the momentum back their way with several attempts on goal, each going wide in the following minutes. The Owls almost struck first in the 35th minute when a free kick was played behind the wall and Thias Gibson found herself with a chance cat goal. Giobson's cross just missed the goal and was almost put in by an attacking Owl.

The first half would end after a physical 45 minutes. The Owls outshot the Dolphins, 7-5, but the visitors forced more saves from Pugh (5).

The Owls nearly went ahead again early in the second half when an in-swinging had eyes for the goal before Massip cleared the ball off the line, saving the goal.

Rooney would be called on 30 seconds later when Brittany Vining took a strong shot from the right side of the box and the sophomore made a diving stop to her left to once again keep the score knotted.

Hensley won a ball and took it in on goal in the 56th minute but her floater over Pugh painfully clanked the left post to stay out. A corner for the Owls again led to a near goal when Kristin Marietta took a header in the box with 59th minute and, once again, the ball was again cleared off the line.

Three straight corners for the Owls kept the pressure on the Dolphin defense in the 67th minute.

The first two attempts were just kept out by the back line and the final delivery, to the relief of the JU supporters who made the trip up to central Georgia, was put over the crossbar.

Hensley found herself again in on goal but couldn't quite beat Pugh. Fink then saved the ball from going out and played a questioning ball across the face of the goal but the answer couldn't be found.

In a furious last 15 minutes, both sides found opportunities that could have found the net.

The overtime veterans would be called upon again as the horn sounded for the end of the 90 minutes of regulation. For the seventh time in eight games, the Dolphins would play extra; a stark contrast to the Owls who entered their first overtime period of the season.

The sixth minute of overtime would prove to be the end when a great cross from Gibson found the head of Caitlin Dingle at the corner of the six-yard box and was put away.