An 18-mile stretch of central Florida separates the hometowns of Reagan Fitzgerald and Alex Beck. On Thursday, the connection between the two ETSU forwards spanned mere seconds, and spoke volumes.
Fitzgerald (a native of Oviedo) lofted a pass to Beck (a native of Orlando), who headed in the only goal of the match in the 88th minute and lifted the Bucs to a 1-0 victory against West Georgia at Sommers-Taylor Stadium.
The late goal by Beck boosted ETSU (1-1-0) in its first home match of 2026.
You can see video of the goal here, from the Facebook page for ETSU women’s soccer.
“Executing at key moments is what wins the games and that’s exactly what we did at the end,” ETSU coach Jay Yelton said after the match. “Unfortunately we left it to the 88th minute to clinch it.”
Fitzgerald, a senior, has been more used to scoring than distributing, although she did lead the Bucs in goals (9) and assists (5) last season. With time starting to wind down and a scoreless draw feeling rather inevitable, Fitzgerald pushed forward on the wing deep into West Georgia’s half of the field. She stopped on a dime and booted a feed to Beck that was world-class, a high-arcing pass delivered only where a jumping Beck could reach it, and flicked it into the net with her head.
“I saw Reagan busting her tail down the line,” Beck said. “She beat the defender, picked her head up, made eye contact, and I knew it was coming right to me.
“Reagan did her job so I could do mine.”
“At the end of the day we need multiple goal scorers on our team,” Fitzgerald added. “Honestly I was more excited about assisting that to Alex than I was scoring myself in the past.”
It was the second career goal for Beck, a sophomore who already describes Johnson City as a home away from home.
“Coming from Orlando where it’s flat, it’s hot, everything’s the same, I love it here,” Beck said. “I recommend people to come visit me, just to see what it’s like here.”
ETSU certainly had its chances to score, pressuring and peppering West Georgia keeper Emily Sanabaria from the early minutes of the match. The Bucs had eight shots at half, but zero goals to show for it.
“This game easily could have been 6-0, up in that range,” Fitzgerald said. “Those are issues that can be simply fixed, which is a great sign for us.”
Yelton also pointed out missed chances: “In that first phase, in the first 10 minutes, we should have scored two or three goals, which takes the pressure off and makes it a fun enjoyable night. Instead we put ourselves to the test, give (West Georgia) momentum , and they come out and play a great second half and get six corners.”
West Georgia might have gotten several corners after the break but struggled to generate true offensive chances. ETSU limited the Wolves to one shot in the first half, and zero shots on goal. For the match, the Bucs outshot West Georgia by a 14-8 margin.
“Our girls put in a good hard-working shift,” Yelton said, noting West Georgia “didn’t get many looks at goal. … they’re tenacious and they win a lot of those battles of the field and never let that attack develop. They do a lot of thankless work that never gets the credit.”
“Our defense is solid,” Beck added. “It never stopped working. Even though we get all the credit over here, we wouldn’t be where we are if they didn’t do their job either.”
One of the key players at the back was Kassie Estep, one of several local athletes on the ETSU roster. Estep didn’t start but she logged 65 minutes, the most of any reserve for the Bucs. “She came out there [and] gave a boost,” Yelton said.
“She was assertive, aggressive, and immediately put her imprint on the game. She did the job in the back. We moved her to the midfield, she helped us move the ball around, and she had great endurance.”
Yelton also praised the endurance of Caroline Wawak. The sophomore from Charlotte started at right back and played 84 minutes, then moved up near the point of attack in the run of play that preceded the goal by Beck.
Addison Yelton had two saves between the pipes to register her first clean sheet of the season and her ninth at ETSU.
Estep wasn’t the only local that saw the pitch. Ava Flanary, Hannah Dawson, and Megan Burleson got minutes as reserves. Flanary only played six minutes at the end of the first half but looked fast and disruptive at the point of attack, firing a shot on goal amid a couple of opportunities that looked promising.
“She’s been sick and still doesn’t have her playing legs yet but she threatened them a couple times,” Yelton said of Flanary. “We had some athletes they had a hard time dealing with.”
ETSU finds out if that athleticism, or that Central Florida connection, yields more success when it returns to action Sunday at UNC Asheville (1-0-2).
Find full stats from the match here.