University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Georgia State
Women's Soccer Drops Tough One to Georgia State, 3-2
09.16.2011 | Women's Soccer
The Bulldogs (0-7-0) stunned the Panthers with two late goals in the first half to build a 2-0 halftime lead.
Asheville out-shot Georgia State 11-7 in the second half and came close to building its lead several times before the Panthers scored to tie the match in the 73rd minute and then scored the game-winner with less than two minutes left in regulation
Asheville goalkeeper Heather Muller was magnificent for the Bulldogs with eight saves, including six in the first half to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring with their second shot on the match. Kaitlyn Eckert sent a direct kick that was headed into the goal by Amanda Knapp at the 33:48 mark to put Asheville in front 1-0. It was Knapp's first goal of the season.
The Bulldogs struck again less than three minutes later when Leilani Halkiotis unloaded a shot from 25 yards out that snuck into the back right corner of the net for a 2-0 Asheville lead at 36:40. It was Halkiotis first goal of the season.
The Panthers (2-6-0) thought they scored right before the end of the first half but Whitney Ravan's goal was waved off for an off-sides call.
Asheville led 2-0 at halftime despite being out-shot 9-3. The visitors had six corner kicks to none for the Bulldogs.
In the second half, Jewel Evans made a perfect pass to Sarah Bennett who tapped in the ball into the back of the net to cut Asheville's lead to 2-1. It was Bennett's third goal of the year at 58:20.
In the 70th minute, Asheville dominated play and came incredibly close to taking a two-goal lead. Off a corner kick, Amanda Dailor had a shot that hit the cross bar and bounced out. Another Bulldog shot was just cleared away by a Georgia State defender. Asheville had two shots in the sequence right in front of the goal.
Just moments later on a counter-attack, the Panthers tied the match when Eryka Hawkins scored at 73:52 on a shot from 10 yards out. Lyndsey Gaffney was credited with an assist on the play.
The game-winner came at 88:18. Bennett found Evans on the left flank. Evans buried a shot from 10 yards to give Georgia State a 3-2 lead.
The Bulldogs had one more shot when Dailor, who had six shots on the day, connected on a shot from 25 yards out that just missed going into the upper part of the goal with 15 seconds left.
Asheville is home again Sunday afternoon when the Bulldogs host South Carolina State at Greenwood Field starting at 1 p.m.
