DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The fifth-ranked Embry-Riddle women's soccer team used a three-goal first half performance to take a 3-2 victory over Oklahoma Baptist on Friday. Friday marked the first day of play in the Habitat for Humanity Invitational hosted by the Eagles at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium. The Blue and Gold received a pair of goals from
Valerie Obita and another from
Krizzy Menez to improve the team's overall record to 3-2, while the Bison fall to 1-3 on the year.
The Bison held a 9-6 shot advantage in the first half, but it was the Eagles who made the most of their chances, connecting on three of their four attempts on frame.
In the 14th minute, Menez ran onto a ball intended for a Bison defender. Menez got the ball to fellow senior
Ange Durston-Ryan who used her first touch to complete a pass to Menez on the run. Menez took advantage of OBU's Shannon Griffith coming off her line, tapping the ball over the Bison goalkeeper's head to put the Eagles up 1-0.
In the 25th minute,
Allison Schultz played a long ball from the midfield that found
Martine Olsen in the box. Olsen's initial shot was punched into the cross bar by Griffith, but Obita was on hand to head home the rebound and extend the Eagle advantage to 2-0.
The Eagles' third goal started with Menez in the midfield. Under pressure, Menez pushed the ball to
Katherine Ebbs who went to ground to save the ball before getting it back to Menez. Menez used her speed to race up the field and despite being sandwiched by a pair of Bison defenders and their goalkeeper at the top of the 18-yard box, she managed to get the ball to Obita on the left, and Obita hit a low, driven shot across the face of the goal into the lower right corner for a 3-0 half time lead.
The Bison opened the scoring in the second half when Paula Vicenzo pounced on an errant Eagle pass and won a one-v-one battle with ERAU netminder
Lauren Gallant to put OBU on the board.
OBU's second goal of the night came in the 77th minute after Vicenzo won a free kick about five yards outside the box on the left side of the field. Gallant was unable to hold onto Taylor Jester's free kick attempt and the ball slipped into the goal to make the score 3-2.
Gallant finished with seven saves on the night, while Griffith collected three saves in the Bison loss.
The Eagles return to the pitch at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday when they close out the Habitat for Humanity Invitational with a match against four-time defending national champion and top-ranked Lee who defeated No. 17 Northwood 6-1 in the first game of the tournament. Prior to the ERAU/Lee match-up, Northwood will take on Oklahoma Baptist at 11 a.m.
