BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. (August 27, 2023) - Four games into the 2023 season, ETSU is developing a pattern – ask questions in the first half, find answers in the second half. 

After piling up 10 shots with nothing to show for it in the first 45 minutes, the ETSU women's soccer team posted a dominant 3-0 win at Gardner-Webb on Sunday behind a trio of second half goals. Ava Matherne (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) forced the Runnin' Bulldogs into an own goal to give the Bucs the lead, and Sinoxolo Cesane (Cape Town, South Africa) added a brace of her own to put them out of sight in their first road win of the year.

The Buccaneers (2-1-1) posed an abundance of challenges for the Runnin' Bulldogs' (1-3-0) defense. A promising combination with Cesane and Ruby Teixeira (Nashville, Tenn.) in the eighth minute failed to bear fruit but foreshadowed things to come. Matherne missed inches outside the left post from 12 yards out in the 10th minute. Teixeira missed just wide right from the top of the box in the 16th minute and Lindsey Cook (Greeneville, Tenn.) fired over the bar from 25 yards out in the 18th minute. Kyra Ranvek (Knoxville, Tenn.) missed wide after a promising cross from Grace Eatz (Roswell, Ga.) in the 33rd minute then had another look at goal from long range in the 39th minute but was stopped by GWU goalkeeper Jamie Martin. Aliya Cooper (Chattanooga, Tenn.) rolled off her defender and had a good look from 18 yards but skimmed it just over the bar in the 42nd minute, and the Bucs went to halftime without a goal for their efforts. 

Nine minutes into the second half, they got their breakthrough.

Matherne played a challenging ball to the top of the six-yard box onto the foot of Gardner-Webb's Tijana Josic, but Josic's clearance effort caromed off the chest of fellow defender Lina Ullen and sailed into the GWU goal to put ETSU in front. Matherne had another crack at goal in the 60th minute off a direct free kick but missed just over the crossbar.

Cesane gave the Bucs clear breathing room in the 62nd minute when she linked up with Teixeira again. Teixeira made a strong run down the end line to the right of goal, and her cross slipped through two sets of legs to find Cesane with time and space to measure up a confident finish inside the near post. 

Cesane struck again for the exclamation point with 18 seconds left in another combination play with Teixeira that gave her a clean look to drive the ball low from 20 yards into the bottom left corner of the net. The junior has three goals in the last two matches, and her brace is the first multi-goal game since Ranvek scored two goals against Middle Tennessee on September 10, 2021. The two assists mark the first points of Teixeira's collegiate career. 

The Buccaneers' dominance was reflected in the shot count, 21-2 in their favor, and the corner count, 10-1 to ETSU. Individually, Matherne led the Bucs with five shots, and Ranvek took four shots in a season-high 31 minutes after making her first appearance of the year on Thursday. Ashton Blair (Knoxville, Tenn.) posted her sixth career shutout, a combined effort with senior Rhyan Connolly (Canton, Ga.). Connolly made the only save required of ETSU's goalkeepers on a late corner kick. 

The Bucs wrap up a three-game road stretch at Tennessee Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m. 

For more information on ETSU women's soccer, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's soccer tab.