Georgia Southern Women’s Soccer Stunned by Citadel, 4-2

// BOX SCORE // UPDATED STATS (10-7-12) //

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Women’s Soccer suffered a shock 4-2 loss to The Citadel on Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field. The Eagles led early on a Courtney Collins penalty, but three-straight Bulldog goals against the run of play propelled the visitors to the win. Southern falls to 6-4-4 overall and 2-3-1 in the SoCon while the Bulldogs move to 4-8-1 and 2-3-1 in the league.

“We didn’t match The Citadel’s intensity today,” said Head Coach Lindsey Vanderspiegel. “We should have expected them to come out and play a physical game, but we weren’t able to match their intensity. In SoCon play, it doesn’t matter what a team’s record is, it matters who comes out and plays the hardest on any given day.”

Georgia Southern thought it had garnered a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute as a free kick combination from Nora El-Shami and McKenna Storey found the head of Courtney Collins, but the Eagle attacker was denied by the offsides flag.

Collins, however, managed to score the breakthrough goal in the 23rd minute. The senior was clipped by a sliding tackle in the box to earn a penalty kick. She made the keeper guess the wrong way as she delicately placed the attempt in the net.

Just five minutes before the halftime break, Citadel leveled the score at 1-1 as Mariana Garcia scored her ninth goal of the season for the Bulldogs.

Less than five minutes into the second half, Georgia Southern had a shot by Emily Hirano that was denied by the crossbar on a breakaway. Just before the hour mark, the Eagles earned a man advantage as The Citadel’s Taylor Darling was shown a red card for throwing a punch at Collins.

The Citadel mustered an odd-man break in the 67th minute and took their first lead of the match off a goal from Nicole Levermann, her third of the season.

The Bulldogs scored their third goal of the afternoon minutes later as Garcia found the net again, capitalizing off a rebounded shot off the post. The Bulldog attacker was in the right place at the right time for her 10th goal of the season, giving The Citadel ad 3-1 lead with less than 20 minutes to play.

Four minutes later, Alex Murphy brought the score to 3-2 with a miraculous goal from the top of the box. Callie O’Connor centered the ball to the top of the box and Murphy, with her back to the goal, turned in the air and lobbed a high shot that looped past the Citadel keeper into the net. It was Murphy’s third goal of the season and gave the Eagles new life with 15 minutes remaining.

As Georgia Southern threw attackers forward, The Citadel responded with their fourth goal of the match as Johnson scored her third goal of the season from 25 yards out.  off the dribble at the center of the pitch.

The Eagles are back on the road next weekend with a pair of games in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad. GSU faces Elon on Friday night at 7 p.m. and UNCG, who the Eagles eliminated from the SoCon Tournament last year, on Sunday at 2 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, 07 October 2012 17:12