STATESBORO - Georgia State took a 2-1 Sun Belt women's college soccer victory over host Georgia Southern on Thursday evening at Bo Pitts Field.
The Panthers (7-5-1, 3-2 SBC) earned a victory over the Eagles (2-8-3, 0-3-2) in Statesboro for the first time in six tries, while keeping Georgia Southern winless in the league. The Eagles will look to get into the win column next on Sunday, traveling to Troy to face the Trojans in a 2 p.m. ET matchup.
Georgia State tallied the first goal of the match in the 12th minute as Briana Hill fed a ball to Sunniyah Tucker, who drove along the top of the box and uncorked a shot that hit the top corner of the net for the 1-0 lead. The Panthers would take that advantage into the break as each team had four shots in the first half.
The Eagles equalized right at the 57 minute mark as Olivia Golden drove through the Georgia State midfield with the ball, then slipped a through ball into the box for Addison Comer. Comer dribbled around Panther goalkeeper Alondra Iniarte and finished into the empty net for her third goal of the season.
Less than two minutes later, the Panthers went back in front on a goal by Aaliyah Faddoul from the right side of the box. The Eagles pressed for another equalizer, but went down a player in the 75th minute due to defender Kendall Wilson taking two yellow cards in less than a minute.
Georgia Southern outshot the Panthers, 16-9, for the match, while Iniarte made one save in net for GSU and Katie Oakley made one save for the Eagles in 79 minutes of action. Georgia Southern held a 5-2 edge in corner kicks and Georgia State was whistled for 11 fouls, compared to eight fouls and five offsides for the Eagles.
"We didn't get off to the start that we wanted," Georgia Southern head women's soccer coach Chris Adams said. "Conceding first again, that's become a habit for us. It's pretty hard to consistently dig out when you concede that goal because you have to score two. I am proud of us for our fight to get back into it, like our last two games we've come back to tie it at 1-1. But we conceded right after against the run of play, which was a bit of a dagger when you feel like you have momentum. And obviously going down to 10 players really doesn't give you a chance at a comeback."
