Women's Soccer Holds on For a 1-1 Tie in Overtime against the College of Charleston
10/12/2008 4:26:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Statesboro, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Women’s Soccer Team held on to tie the College of Charleston 1-1 Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field.
Ashley Toussaint (Warner Robins, Ga.) scored her 10th goal of the season off of a pass from Chelsea Kephart (Cumming, Ga.) in the 32nd minute of the match. Kephart received the ball from Abby Wheeler’s (Bozeman, Mont.) free kick. Toussaint’s goal ties her for 10th place in the Georgia Southern record book for goals scored in a season.
“I was proud of the way our team bounced back after the rough loss Friday. We battled hard. Charleston is a good team and for us to come out here and get a tie from them was good,” said Head Coach Ashley Hart.
The College of Charleston threatened numerous times in the first half, but the Lady Eagles' defense stepped up and made stops.
In the 6th minute of play, Wheeler headed an indirect free kick out of the box to prevent a scoring opportunity. She made another stop on a crossing pass in the 18th minute of action.
Laura Smith (Buford, Ga.) prevented a late first half scoring chance by blocking a pass on what would have set up a breakaway opportunity for the Cougars, and the Lady Eagles headed to the locker room at halftime up 1-0.
Georgia Southern had an early scoring chance in the fourth minute of play. Michelle Berard (Kennesaw, Ga.) set up the chance off of a corner kick but the ball was kicked away from Wheeler by Hope Atkinson.
Two minutes later the Lady Eagles' defense made another stop when Smith knocked the College of Charleston’s corner kick out of the box and out of bounds.
In the 52nd minute of play, the Cougars scored the game-tying goal when Megan Manthey scored her eighth goal of the season off of a pass from Katie Browne.
The Cougars had one last opportunity in regulation and were able to get a rebounded shot to the right side of the goal while Lauren Santos (Berwyn, Ill.) was on the left side, but the Lady Eagles’ defense defended the open net twice to prevent the game-winning goal.
Santos finished the match with seven saves in 110 minutes.
“Santos played really well for us and made some huge saves,” said Coach Hart.
Two minutes into the second overtime Molly Nepote (Mendota Heights, Minn.) used a header to clear the ball out of Georgia Southern’s box and prevent a College of Charleston shot opportunity.
Neither team was able to score in the two overtime periods, and the match ended in a 1-1 tie.
“We gave them a lot of chances, but I was proud of our team. They fought back, and we cleared a lot of things off the line. I thought we stopped the opportunities that they had and that’s what counts in the end,” said Coach Hart.
The Lady Eagles are now 4-6-3 overall and 2-3-1 in the Southern Conference. The College of Charleston is 9-3-3 overall and 2-2-2 in the conference after today’s tie.
The Lady Eagles return to action Friday at Eagle Field against Western Carolina at 4pm.
