Collins’ Strike Takes Women’s Soccer Past South Carolina State, 1-0

// BOX SCORE // UPDATED STATS (9-5-12) //

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Women’s Soccer improved to 4-0-2 on the year with a 1-0 victory over South Carolina State at Eagle Field. Courtney Collins fired home her second goal of the season in the 15th minute to take the win for the Eagles. Southern hosts Georgia State on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

“It’s always nice to get the win,” said head coach Lindsey Vanderspiegel. “I was a little disappointed with our performance, I don’t feel like we have been as consistent as we need to be. I think we need to step our game up before Sunday’s game (against Georgia State) because it’s going to be one of our biggest so far.”

Georgia Southern’s offense opened the scoring in the 15th minute via a quick-strike goal. Goalkeeper Katie Merson delivered her throw to her right back, Jessie Eberhardt who took a couple touches and rifled a through ball past the SCSU midfield and found Collins one-on-one with the Bulldog keeper. Collins one-touched the ball past the netminder for a 1-0 Georgia Southern advantage.

Merson, the defending SoCon Player of the Week posted her fifth shutout of the season and third shutout on the trot with five saves on the afternoon. She has a microscopic 0.16 goals against average, allowing just one goal in 580 minutes of play this season.

Georgia Southern logged 16 shots in the match as the quest for a second goal continued into the waning minutes of the match. Collins had the best chance to double GSU’s lead in the 87th minute as she blasted a shot past the SCSU goalkeeper, only being denied by the crossbar.

“Our game against Georgia State is a great in-state rivalry,” added Vanderspiegel. “I think that the fact that we aren’t in the same conference has helped breed the rivalry. We’re excited to see the stands full for Sunday’s match.”

The Eagles are back in action on Sunday afternoon with a battle of the GSU’s from Eagle Field. Southern faces Georgia State starting at 1 p.m. from the friendly confines. Live streaming of the match will be available on GSEagles.com by clicking on the “Watch and Listen” button on the homepage.

Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.

Category: Women's Soccer

Published on Wednesday, 05 September 2012 19:13