Women's soccer team cruises in national tournament opener
The Eastern Florida State College women's soccer team opened the NJCAA Division I National Tournament with a convincing 9-1 win
The Eastern Florida State College women's soccer team opened the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in a big way Thursday evening at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Georgia.
The Titans scored a season-high nine times to defeat Kansas City Kansas Community College 9-1 in the first game of Pool C play.
Eastern Florida State College opened the scoring less than a minute into the match as Cara Young found Courtney Jade Butlion who put it past the keeper for a 1-0 lead.
Paula Garrido scored the next two goals as the Titans had a 3-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of the match.
The Titans would explode with three goals in the span of one minute as Lydia Carroll scored the first of her two goals, then Young once again found Buttlion and Young would score to put the No. 3 seed up 6-0 with 11 minutes left in the first half.
Kurumi Arakawa hit a nice shot from outside the box to kick off the scoring in the second half while Carroll and Garrido each scored again in the second half.
"It was good to jump out to an early lead, come out and play our game, score some goals and get some confidence heading into the rest of the tournament," Eastern Florida State College women's soccer coach Scott Carswell said. "It was nice to see our starters get some goals and Lydia come off the bench and get a couple of goals. It was a good team effort and it is nice when you can spread the offense around like that."
The Titans outshot Kansas City Kansas CC 32-9 in the contest and Marcelle Thedinga made four saves in the win.
Eastern Florida State College will play Laramie County Community College Saturday at 5 p.m. in the final game of Pool C. The winner of the pool will advance to the semifinals. The Titans and Laramie County are 2-1 in the national tournament.
