CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Forward Jennifer Wittick got two first half goals, but it wasn't enough for Georgia Southern on Sunday afternoon at Charlotte. The Eagles dropped the 4-3 result in a match that saw a scoring spree of six goals in the first half. An 84th minute goal by Melinda Lukas cut the lead to one in the final minutes.

PARTICULARS
Charlotte (2-1-0) – 4
Georgia Southern (0-3-1) - 3

SCORING
CLT – 3' – Martha Thomas scored her third goal of the season off an assist from Emily Truelove. The bass forward put Thomas in position to slip a shot on the ground past the Eagle netminder.
GS – 5' – Wittick scored her first goal of 2015 by getting on the end of a Nora El-Shami cross. The one-touch shot beat the goalkeeper to tie the game at 1-1.
CLT – 18' – Truelove got a goal of her own when she sidestepped the Eagle goalkeeper and scored the goal on an empty net. Assists on the play went to Rebecca Beatty and Megan McCalister as the 49ers went up 2-1.
CLT – 19' – Just 76 seconds later, McCalister got a goal by making some space of her own from 15 yards. She spun from a back to goal position to shoot the ball across the face of goal and into the net for a 3-1 lead.
GS – 23' –Wittick wrote her name on the scoresheet for a second time by finishing again from inside the box. A shot by El-Shami hit the crossbar and rebounded back to Wittick who calmly finished to make it a 3-2 lead for Charlotte.
CLT – 31' – Perri Bonner got on the end of a cross in the box to push the lead back to two goals just 15 minutes before the break. A double assist for Shelby Hicks and Thomas was credited as the pair worked the ball forward with a long ball and a cross.
GS – 84' – Melinda Lucas got the Eagles back in striking distance with just more than five minutes remaining. Lukas shook free past her defender and rifled a shot past the keeper into the far netting.

NOTES
- After starting goalkeeper Emily Flinn allowed four goals in the first half, Emily Egan replaced her for the second half and made three saves while posting a second half clean sheet.
- The Eagles out-shot Charlotte 19-14 with a 9-9 mark in shots on goal.
- Five of the Eagles' shots came from the foot and head of Jennifer Wittick.

WHAT COACH BRIAN DUNLEAVY SAID
"We started a road game poorly yet again. We made mistakes in the first half that Charlotte punished us for. We cannot continue to put ourselves in vulnerable situations against teams of this caliber. Credit to our players for fighting back, we scored three great goals and put them under tremendous pressure. In the 2nd half I think we learned what we are made of and showed that we are an outstanding attacking team. We'll sort out the defensive errors and the mental lapses. If we play the way we did in the second half for all 90 minutes, we are going to win a lot games, I know it and our players know it."

NEXT UP
Georgia Southern is back at home this Friday for a non-conference tilt against Francis Marion. The Eagles face the Patriots at 7 p.m.

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