Furman Takes Early Lead, Holds on for 3-1 Win

STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern women’s soccer team notched a goal in the first half, but was unable to rally back in a 3-1 loss to Southern Conference foe Furman, Thursday afternoon (Oct. 11) at Eagle Field.

The Eagles (2-9-1, 1-3-1) maintained control for most of the first 15 minutes, tallying a pair of shots from juniors Ashley Toussaint (Warner Robins, Ga.) and Susanne Rogers (Augusta, Ga.).  But in the 20th minute, the Paladins (10-4-1, 4-1-0) took advantage of their front-line speed and capitalized.

Furman’s Emily Krankowski broke the scoring drought with 19:59 on the clock after beating the defense, receiving a lobbed ball from teammate Mickey Palanza, and finding the back of the net from 10 yards out.

Furman added a pair of goals in the 21st and 23rd minutes to give the Paladins a 3-0 advantage.  Ashley Creavalle intercepted the defense’s pass and fired a shot from 30 yards out for Furman’s second winner, and later, Rachel Fry collected a deflected pass and one-touched a shot for the team’s third goal.

Georgia Southern continued to attack and soon produced one its best scoring opportunities of the first half. Freshman Elissa Botts (Grovetown, Ga.) broke away from the Furman defense and collected an over-head pass, but was taken down in inside the box.  A foul was called, the Eagles were awarded a penalty kick and junior Holli Finneren (Lake Orion, Mich.) notched her second goal of the season, closing the Furman lead to 3-1.

Going into the locker room, Furman led the shots total 10-3.

The Eagles changed the momentum in the second stanza, reducing Furman’s shot opportunities to just four.

“I thought we did a good job in the second half,” said head coach Ashley Hart.  “Our defense was pretty solid, I thought we were much more organized, we did a good job of shutting down (Anna) Betton and eliminating good looks at goal.”

The Eagles added two more shots in the second half off the feet of Toussaint and freshman Jenny Anderson (Birmingham, Ala.), but were unable to even up the score.

“I think we lost our composure for a little while in the first half,” said Hart.  “But I’m proud of the way we were more organized in the second half and we played much better soccer as a whole.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Santos (Berwyn, Ill.) made eight saves in a full 90 minutes of play, while Furman’s Briana da Mota garnered the victory stopping three shots on goal.

Furman led the Eagles in shots (14-5) and corner kicks (4-2).

The Eagles will next leave Statesboro to take on Elon, Sunday, Oct. 14.  The conference match-up is slated for 2 p.m. at Rudd Field in Elon, N.C.

Category: Women's Soccer

Published on Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:14