Score: No. 1 Keiser Seahawks 2, Barry 1
Records: No. 1 Keiser (1-0), Barry (0-1)
Location: Arrigo-Vecellio Field, West Palm Beach, Fla.
No. 1 Keiser women's soccer opened its title defense building an early cushion and then surviving a late scare to hang on. Marta Filipe and Luisa Fontes scored 21 minutes apart in the first half to stake the Seahawks to a two-goal lead, and though Barry clawed one back in the second half, Keiser's defense and Mio Tanaka closed the door on a 2-1 season-opening win over the Buccaneers. Barry did not wear kits with numbers, so all stats were attributed to one player.
Barry came out with an early jump, testing Tanaka twice in the opening 11 minutes with shots from distance that the Keiser keeper turned aside. The Buccaneers even earned a corner kick in that stretch, but Keiser weathered the pressure and struck first. In the 16th minute, Filipe collected a loose ball on the left side of the box, beat her defender, and rocketed a shot into the upper left corner of the netting to put the Seahawks in front, 1-0. Keiser continued to push after the goal with Fontes and Ainara Esain just missing the mark on attempts. The Seahawks doubled their lead in the 37th minute when Fontes stepped up for the free-kick and curled it over the wall and in to make it 2-0.
Blanca Bächi had a chance early in the second after intercepting a pass from the keeper, Marlen Hernandez. Bächi collected and fired a curling shot, but Hernandez would recover for the save and deny Keiser a third goal. Barry started to find more room as the half wore on, and the pressure paid off in the 71st minute when the Buccaneers cut the deficit to 2-1. Keiser had a late look of its own go wide off the foot of Avril Amil Ruiz who just missed scoring on her debut. The Keiser defense would hold firm for the remainder of the contest to preserve the 2-1 victory.
The Seahawks return to the pitch on Tuesday, August 25, when No. 8 William Carey travels to West Palm Beach. Kickoff from Arrigo-Vecellio is set for 11:00 a.m.
- Keiser improves to 1-0-0 to begin the season
- The Seahawks are now 17-3-2 all-time in season openers
- KU extended their series lead over Barry to 5-0
- Filipe scored the first goal of her career in the 16th minute
- For Fontes, it was her seventh goal of her career
- The Seahawks failed to record an assist in the game, something that only happened once all of last season, the NAIA National Championship Game
- Keiser and Barry tied for shots 8-8
- Mio Tanaka earned the win in goal, making two saves on three shots faced
- Ida Åkerlind, Amil Ruiz, Esain, Ane Buer, Filipe, and Victoria Clark all made their Keiser debuts in the season opener
Get the latest information on the team by following keiserwomenssoccer on Instagram and Keiser_WSoccer on Twitter.
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