STATESBORO - Georgia Southern women's soccer opened up Sun Belt Conference play on Sunday, earning a 1-1 draw with visiting Marshall at Bo Pitts Field.
The Eagles, playing in their first match at home in 28 days, move to 2-5-2 on the season and 0-0-1 in the Sun Belt, while Marshall is now 4-2-1 overall and 0-0-1 in the league. Georgia Southern returns to action on Thursday, September 18, hosting Texas State in a 7 p.m. Sun Belt Conference contest in Statesboro.
Marshall opened the scoring in the 13th minute by earning a free kick just to the left of the box. Fernanda Dantas' service found the leaping Marcella Alves, who headed it inside the far post for the 1-0 lead.
Georgia Southern would answer in the 27th minute, also on a free kick just to the left of the box. This time, Kendall Wilson took a shot directly on goal and it took a slight deflection off of a Marshall defender to find the back of the net. It was her first goal of the season and also the first goal directly off of a free kick for the Eagles since Wilson did so in a 3-1 win over North Florida on September 5, 2024.
The first half ended all square at 1-all, which the Eagles holding a slight 6-5 edge in shots.
In the second half, both teams had golden chances to break through. For the Eagles, Carley Borgelt's strike from outside the box looked ticketed for the upper right corner, but Alexis Wolgemuth got a hand on it in the 57th minute to force a corner kick. Claire Casey had headers in back-to-back corner kicks over the next minute but neither could find the net.
Marshall tested Georgia Southern goalkeeper Katie Oakley twice in the match's final 10 minutes, on shots by Tiggi Gent and Angel Fowler, but Oakley made a save on each. The Eagles' last-ditch attempt by Wilson for the winner in the final 10 seconds sailed high and the match ended in a draw - one of four 1-1 draws on the opening weekend of Sun Belt Conference play.
"There's now eight teams that have one point, and that just speaks to the parity from top to bottom of the league," Georgia Southern head women's soccer coach Chris Adams said. "There's no easy games. We got a point, and obviously we'd prefer to get three at home, but we'll take the one point and quickly prepare for Texas State on Thursday."
Georgia Southern held a 20-11 edge in shots on the match. Oakley made four saves in net total for the Eagles, while Wolgemuth had five in net for the Thundering Herd. Georgia Southern held a 6-2 edge in corner kicks and Marshall was whistled for 12 fouls and three offsides, compared to 10 fouls and two offsides for the Eagles.
"We're creating good chances," Coach Adams said. "We just have to convert. The name of the game is to score more goals than your opponent. We weren't able to do that today, but it wasn't from a lack of effort or a lack of creating chances."
