Sept. 12, 2007
PENSACOLA, Fla. - West Florida (4-2-0) extended their season-high winning streak to three games with their 2-0 triumph over NAIA opponent Mobile (1-6-0), Wednesday night at the UWF Soccer Complex. In their first home match since the season opening weekend, the Argonauts out shot the Lady Rams 21-2 en route to the victory.
For the first 15 minutes the I-10 foes battled in the midfield before Argonauts sophomore transfer Dernelle Mascall netted her team-leading fifth goal of the season in the 17th minute. Mascall, who was playing against her former team for the first time, received a pass from Kaley Morris and broke loose from a swarm of defender before finish the goal.
"We took control early," said head coach Joe Bartlinski. "After the goal in the 17th minute we kept good possession of the ball and did not stretch ourselves out too much. It would have been nice to have a few more goals, but at the end of the day we had compete control of the game."
West Florida fired 10 first half shot, taking a 1-0 into the half, and continued to put pressure on the Mobile defense adding 12 more in the second half. Both of the Lady Rams shot were on goal, which were saved by Courtney Jones who picked up her third consecutive shut out.
Naila Owens added to the Argonauts lead at the 52:52 mark of the second half when she knocked in the follow-up off a Jodi Galucci shot. It was Mascall that set up Galucci's shot, which led to Owens' second goal of the season.
For the third-straight game the Argonauts defenses stood strong and have now shut down the opposition for 291-straight minutes.
"It's more team defense just not the back few," Bartlinski said. "We have been winning headers in the midfield and the front runners have been defending really well. It more of a team concept and everyone has been taking care of their task. We have not been giving up many opportunities on goal and it has to be everyone involved to do that."
In fact, West Florida has only given up a combined 13 shots-on-goal during the scoreless streak, a 4.3 average, and have allowed an opponent to reach double-digits in shots-on-goal only once on the season.
The Argonauts will take the weekend off before taking on William Cary next Friday, Sept. 21at the UWF Soccer Complex with kick-off scheduled for 7 p.m. Fans can follow the action with "Live Stats" on the Women's Soccer home page at goargos.com.