DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's soccer team improved its Sunshine State Conference record to 3-0 with a 3-1 victory against defending league champions Barry, Saturday at the ERAU Soccer Stadium. Saturday's result marked the 150th win for ERAU head coach
Samantha Bohon, now in her 13th season at ERAU. The Eagles are now 5-2 overall, while the Buccaneers drop to 1-6 overall and 1-2 in the league.
Saturday's contest saw five players contribute to the scoring, led by
Isabelle Navren who finished with three points on a goal and an assist. Barry had the edge in shots (16-14) and shots on goal (11-5), but the Eagles had the advantage where it counts – on the scoreboard as
Dana Ruchti turned away 10 shots on frame en route to her fifth win of the year.
ERAU's first goal came at the 31:03 mark after the Eagles drew a foul just inside their defensive half of the pitch. Anita Augustsdottir took the free kick and launched a ball into the box where
Sophie Brundin headed home her first goal of the season.
A scant 21 seconds later, the Eagles won a corner kick on the right side of the field. This time the set piece was taken by Navren and her ball found the head of
Rita Okoro who netted her fourth goal of the year to make it 2-0 at the half.
With just over 27 minutes left in the second half,
Julia Olsson won the ball in the middle of the Buccaneers' defensive half, spun and delivered a pass in behind the defense. Navren collected the ball on the run and rifled her third shot of the season into the back of the net to increase the Eagle lead to 3-0.
In addition to the three-goal deficit, the Buccaneers found themselves further disadvantaged when an ejection in the 71st minute forced them to complete the game with just 10 players. Barry was up to the challenge and continued pressure on the Eagle defense paid off in the form of a Tash Hudson goal in the 87th minute that capped the night's scoring.
"We've seen Barry several times this season and I thought tonight was the best I've seen them," Bohon noted. "That's a credit to Sarah [Dacey], her staff and their players because other teams might have stopped fighting down 3-0. I was proud of our group tonight and how they managed the game and stayed composed. The third goal Isabelle scored was top notch and was a big moment in the game. Each game shows us something different and we keep trying to grow game-to-game. We asked a lot of them this week in training and really went after it rather than resting- they handled it brilliantly."
The Eagles will go on the road for their next conference game when they travel to St. Petersburg to take on Eckerd. That match is slated for Saturday at 7 p.m.
