Women’s Soccer Suffers Loss At South Alabama

Friday, October 17

Mobile, AL

8 PM

Georgia Southern University

9-4-1, 4-2SBC

South Alabama

13-2-1, 5-0-1SBC

Georgia Southern

South Alabama

Jennifer Wittick had 3 shots on the night

Photo by: Ken Boyd

10/17/2014 10:42:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Eagles give up two goals in final five minutes

By: Erika Brennan

MOBILE, AL. – Georgia Southern Women's Soccer dropped a 2-0 decision at South Alabama Friday night as the Eagles held the Jaguars scoreless through the first 85 minutes of play. Two Jaguar goals in the final five minutes, however, proved to be the difference. The Eagles have lost their last two matches but will look to rebound Sunday when they battle Troy University.

"It was a really good game, South Alabama was very athletic, organized defensively and really threatening going forward," said Head Coach Brian Dunleavy. "We did a great job of coming out in the second half and playing hard. For forty minutes we were excellent. Unfortunately, we made an error that cost us; it's a shame a good game was decided by a mistake. But full credit to South Alabama, and Charde Hannah, she is a special player. I feel for our players because they deserved more from the game, but it just wasn't our night. We've got to dust ourselves off and come out ready to play on Sunday."

A scoreless first half saw the Eagles place one shot on goal which came in the 4th minute by Melinda Lukas. South Alabama managed 11 first-half shots with four on target. Goalkeeper Katie Merson made 4 saves in the opening 45 minutes of play.

The second half saw a great scoring opportunity in the 47th minute on a corner kick by Nora El-Shami. Jennifer Wittick headed to ball, but the shot was blocked on the line by the Jaguar defense.

Wittick and Lukas led all Georgia Southern players with 3 shots apiece. Merson gathered another 3 saves in the second half for a total of 7 saves on the night.

The Jaguars took a 1-0 lead in the 85th minute when Charde Hannah scored her 15th goal of the season by challenging Merson on an attempted clearance. Hannah won the ball and scored into the open net for the go-ahead goal.

With the Eagles pushed forward late in the game, Hannah was able to score again, this time on a counter attack. The goal came in the 90th minute on an assist from teammate Rio Hardy from 25 yards out in a 2-v-1 opportunity.

Georgia Southern was out-shot 19-9 in the match and dropped their second Sunbelt Conference game of the season. The Eagles fall to 9-4-1 and 4-2-0 in the Sun Belt. South Alabama improves to 13-2-1 overall and 5-0-1 in the Sun Belt with two weeks remaining in league play.

The Eagles now turn their attention to Troy University as they continue their two-game road trip. Kick-off is set for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Troy Soccer Complex. Georgia Southern is back at home on October 24th for the 2014 GATA game against Texas State; followed by the regular season finale against Appalachian State on October 26th.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics. To purchase tickets call 1-800-GSU-WINS.