Georgia Southern Women’s Soccer Falls to Georgia State, 3-2

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

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Women’s Soccer fell from the ranks of the unbeaten on Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 loss to Georgia State at Eagle Field. The visitors went out to a 2-0 lead in the first 21 minutes, but goals in the 28th and 61st minute leveled the score at 2-2. State recorded the game-winning goal in the 85th minute

“The team battled hard today to comeback from the 2-0 deficit early,” said assistant coach Brian Dunleavy. “We worked hard as a team and played well for each other today. I feel like we out played them for parts of the match and we definitely had more shots, but they (Georgia State) made it difficult for us by being organized in defense. When they had chances, they took them.”

With the loss, Southern falls to 4-1-2 on the year while the Panthers improve to 3-3-0 in the 2012 campaign.

Georgia State’s Nikki Fedele opened the scoring in the 20th minute when she got on the end of a Jewel Evans cross in the penalty area for a header goal. The Panthers doubled the advantage just a minute later when Alyssia Feronti scored on a penalty kick to make the score 2-0.

The Eagles didn’t wait long for an answer, as Sydnie Van Curen found the back of the net in the 28th minute. The Eagle build up included a shot by Nora El-Shami which was saved by the Georgia State keeper. The rebound came to Alex Murphy who dished the ball one-touch to Van Curen in space to score the goal and cut the lead to 2-1.

Just 15 minutes after the halftime break, the Eagles scored the equalizer from Stephanie Gratto. A free kick by Abbey Ritter from near the boundary line found the head of Gratto in the box, allowing the freshman to score her second goal of the season.

With overtime looming, Georgia State produced the game-winner as Whitney Ravan crossed the ball to Lyndsey Gaffney near the top of the penalty area. A touch to calm the ball preceded the scoring shot which gave the Panthers a 3-2 victory.

The Eagles out-shot the Panthers 24-15 overall with Georgia Southern goalkeeper Katie Merson making five saves on the afternoon

Southern is back in action on Friday afternoon at Charleston Southern. The contest from North Charleston, S.C. begins at 4 p.m.

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 Sunday, 09 September 2012 16:14