STATESBORO, Ga.  – On a cool Friday evening in Statesboro, the Georgia Southern women's soccer team hosted the Troy Trojans to kick off this weekends conference play. The Trojans would take two first half goals to defeat the Eagles 2-1 at Eagle Field. The Blue and White will now host Texas State on Sunday afternoon to complete the conference weekend.

The evening began with the Trojans scoring quick. In the 13th minute Britt Ellmore took a great build up by Lauren Aldrich and Natalie Melillo and finished it into the side netting to take a 1-0 lead. The Eagles and Trojans would play scoreless from there for about 23 minutes, until Kendra Cashion intercepted a back pass and scored into the empty net.

In the second half, the match shifted to the Eagles, creating multiple scoring chances and controlling the momentum. Brogan Boudreaux would break the scoreless drought for the Eagles scoring in the 60th minute off of a free kick. The Trojan foul allowed the Eagles to set up a free kick from about 25 yards out. Boudreaux stepped up to the ball and finished it top right corner to bring the Eagles back to within one.

In the final 30 minutes, the Trojans would continue to shut down any Eagle opportunity that approached. Tyler Gordon had two great chances robbed, thanks to incredible saves by the Troy keeper. The Eagles will look to rebound against point leader in the Sun Belt Conference Texas State on Sunday afternoon. Kick off is scheduled for 1:00 PM and the match will be a Pink Out.

MATCH FACTS
Troy (3-10-1, 2-3-0) - 2
Georgia Southern (4-8-0, 2-3-0) – 1

SCORING
13' - TROY - Britt Ellmore (1) Lauren Aldrich, Natalie Melillo
36' - TROY - Kendra Cashion (3)
60' - GS - Brogan Boudreaux (2)

NOTES
- Shots were even at 14 a side, but the Trojans out shot the Eagles 9-5 in the first half
- Jocelyn Springer made six saves on the evening, tallying three each half
- Taylor Cust was the only play from either team to record a caution in the match, being awarded a yellow card in the 89th minute
- Brogan Boudreaux scored her second goal of the season off of a free kick from about 25 yards out
- Tyler Gordon led all Eagles with four shots on the evening

WHAT HEAD COACH BRIAN DUNLEAVY SAID
"I thought we played really hard for 90 minutes, but mental lapses in the first half were too much to overcome. I have a lot of respect for Troy, they played really well tonight.Their goalkeeper made numerous fantastic saves, she stopped three or four clear goals. We were all over them in the second half but couldn't find the equalizer. With that said, I still feel as though we beat ourselves tonight, it stings, but we have to take a lot of positive out of this performance. We need 90 minutes of mental focus, physical work rate, and execution on Sunday against a very good Texas State team."
 
NEXT UP
The Eagles will host conference front runner Texas State on Sunday afternoon. The match will be the annual pink out and will begin at 1:00 PM.