Women's Soccer Southern Conference

Goldoni scores twice to lead ETSU past Winthrop

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – For the first time since 2004, the ETSU women’s soccer team has started the season 3-0 at home with three shutouts as it defeated Winthrop, 2-0 on Wednesday night inside Summers-Taylor Stadium.

It’s the third shutout of the season for the Buccaneers, who previously defeated USC Upstate and Radford, 1-0. Sophomore midfielder Eleonora Goldoni recorded both goals for ETSU, recording her second career multi-goal performance.

Goldoni go the blue and gold going in the first half, scoring in the 31st minute. After a foul outside of the box, sophomore Irina Brutsch executed a perfect free kick that bounced off the head of sophomore Fiona Dodge and onto the foot of Goldoni, who put the ball in the back left corner of the net to give ETSU the 1-0 lead.

For Dodge, it was her first collegiate assist, while Brutsch recorded her fourth assist on the season, widening her lead in the Southern Conference.

The trio almost connected on another goal in the final seconds of the first half as Brutsch took a corner kick that bounced off both the head of Goldoni and Dodge and out of play. Taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, ETSU has now extended its record to 3-0 when leading at the half. In the first half, the shots were tied at 3-3 apiece.

In the second half, Winthrop came out on the attack, registering five shots, with three of them coming in the first 13 minutes of the half.

It wasn’t until the 86th minute that Goldoni recorded her second goal of the night off of a penalty kick. Senior Simona Koren raced up the right side of the field and was fouled inside the penalty box, which led to Goldoni slipping the ball past the Winthrop goalkeeper and into the back right corner of the net.

With the victory, ETSU snaps its three-game losing streak and improves its overall record to 3-3. ETSU is now 25-10-2 all-time at home against nonconference opponents since 2007 and it is the first time the Bucs have started 3-0 at home since 2014.

ETSU hits the road once again on Sunday, Sept. 11, as it heads to Cookeville, Tenn., to take on the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech.