Eastern Florida’s Kaila Henson (4) and Jamie Perriello (19) battle it out with St. Charles in a first round game on Monday’s first day of the NJCAA Women’s Soccer Division I Championship Tournament. (EFSC image)
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Eastern Florida’s women’s soccer team won its first round game on Monday’s first day of the NJCAA Women’s Soccer Division I Championship Tournament, beating St. Charles Community College 2-0.
Third-seed Eastern Florida improved to 13-1. St. Charles, the 10th seed, fell to 14-5.
Playing in steady rain on its home field on the Melbourne Campus, Eastern Florida pressed relentlessly from the opening whistle. And after peppering the St. Charles defense with shots the Titans leading scorer sophomore Jamie Perriello netted a header for a 1-0 lead.
The goal in the 20th minute was Perriello’s 12th of the season while the assist went to freshman Abbie Camargo for her school record 16th.
Eastern Florida freshman goalkeeper Asmara Holmes made her first save of the game in the 26th minute off a St. Charles corner.
Freshman Helen Ramsey made it 2-0 Titans in the 40th minute as players jammed up in front of the St. Charles net.
EFSC outshot St. Charles 30-4. But, work remains to be done.
“We played really well, I thought, the first half,” said Eastern Florida head coach Jeff Carr. “We had a lot of opportunities we didn’t finish on.
Jeff Carr
“The second half we just were kind of on our heels. We had no energy like we did in the first half. I don’t what went wrong but we played very poor the second half.
“We got the job done but goal differential could be a factor in this so two goals is not enough. We have to beat Darton to advance. We’ve got to play 90 minutes. We didn’t play 90 minutes tonight. We played a half. We’ve got to be a little more consistent, a little more composure, not panic with the ball, force passes, move off the ball, help support each other.”
Sixth seed Darton State awaits both St. Charles and EFSC. St. Charles plays Darton at 7 p.m. Tuesday while EFSC plays the Cavaliers at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
