Falcons Take on EFSC Thursday
Daytona Beach, FL (dscfalcons.com): The Daytona State women's soccer program improved their conference record Sunday night against the Broward Community College Seahawks in a 4-2 victory. In their previous matchup, the Falcons suffered a 2-1 loss in overtime. Sunday night, however, the Falcons were able to get onto the board within the first 3 minutes of play, when Michelle O'Driscoll (Cork, Ireland) served a ball for Sydney Timmes (Port St. Lucie, FL) to get a head on. Fourteen minutes later, Broward was able to break through the Falcons defensive line to tie the game. At the 26' mark, a penalty kick was given after a hand ball was called in Broward's goal box. Freshman Milla-Maria Kujala (Veikkola, Finland) stepped up for the penalty, earning her second goal of the season. Minutes before the first half ended, the Seahawks were able to tie the game again, 2-2. The second half the Falcons buckled down and was able to pull ahead in the '63rd minute when O'Driscoll played a ball across to Sophomore Tayla Duffy (Rushden, England) for a one-time finish. O'Driscoll would find the back of the net one more time in the '87th minute from a set-piece taken by Sophomore Gabrielle Gayle (Spanish Town, Jamaica).
"I am happy for the team tonight. Based on their performance this evening they deserved the victory and it's great to see their increase intensity rewarded," said Coach Jones after the match.
Sunday's game was an important one for the Falcons as the Region 8 conference tournament begins next week, Oct. 28. Regular-season conference ranking determines the tournament's seeding and as of Sunday, before kickoff the battle for second, third, and fourth place in the conference was, essentially, in a three-way tie; Daytona, ASA Miami, and Broward each had 3 wins and 3 losses and each of the three teams splitting results against each other. After Sunday's match, Daytona moved to second place in the conference at 4-3 with 1 game to go, Broward having played their final game Sunday sits at Third with 3-4-1, and ASA having lost to Eastern Florida on Sunday afternoon (with 1 more game tomorrow against Polk) in fourth place with a conference record of 3-4. The Falcons enter their final week of regular-season play against Eastern Florida on Thursday night at 7pm where the women's program will also honor their Sophomore class.
"Thursday is a big game for us. Not necessarily for Conference standings as much as for our own mentality. We have struggled at moments with focus and performing up to our capacity. I am excited to see how we do against Eastern for the 2nd time considering how much maturing we have done since our last encounter," said Jones.
"The region 8 tournament is always a challenging environment. This is one of the most competitive regions in the country and in the tournament anyone can win."
The Region 8 tournament will begin on Monday, October 28th with the "play-in" game between the 4th place regular-season team and Polk State who are currently in 5th place. The winner of Monday's "play-in" game will face Eastern Florida, who have clinched first place in the conference, in one of Thursday's semi-final matchups and the second and third place regular season finishers will play the other. The semi-finals and final will take place on Thursday, October 31st and Saturday, November 1st at the Falcon's Stadium.
"The region 8 tournament is always a challenging environment. This is one of the most competitive regions in the country and in the tournament anyone can win. It's great to be able to have that experience on our home field," said Jones.