October 31, 2009

Box Score

Lady Saints To Tangle with Bobcats in PBC Tournament Opener

DAHLONEGA, GA – The North Georgia women’s soccer team put up a furious rally down the stretch, but it turned out to be too little too late as the Braves of UNC Pembroke made three first-half goals stand up in a 3-2 victory over the Lady Saints Saturday afternoon in Peach Belt Conference action.

The Lady Saints dropped their first game in over a month, falling to 10-4-2 overall and 6-3-1 in the Peach Belt Conference, while UNC Pembroke improves to 10-7-1 on the season, and 4-5-1 in the league.

With North Georgia in a three-way tie for third place, the Lady Saints drop a pair of tiebreakers and enter the Peach Belt Conference Tournament as the #5 seed, traveling to GCSU who captured the fourth seed. The two teams battled to a 1-1 tie earlier this season in Milledgeville, as the Lady Saints will look to advance past the first round of the tournament for the first time since entering the PBC.

The Braves took control early, scoring the game’s first goal in the 7th minute as Rebecca Womack broke away in the box and took a pass from Faye Corbett and sent a shot pass North Georgia keeper Kirsten Ross for the score. Ross leaped and tipped the ball, but Womack’s shot found the back of the net to give UNC Pembroke a 1-0 lead.

The Braves took a two-goal lead just before the half as Emily DesJarlais sent a lined shot from the left corner of the box past two defenders and just inside the right post, giving UNC Pembroke a 2-0 lead. Womack tallied the assist on the play as the Braves held on to the two-goal lead at the half.

The Lady Saints found themselves down by three goals early in the second period as a foul in the box gave Brittany Padilla a penalty kick that she converted to give the Braves a 3-0 advantage.

North Georgia finally woke up and started an offensive surge in the 62nd minute as Kelly Penston sent a header on goal that was blocked right to the head of Lauren Schenk who guided the ball in goal, her fifth goal of the season to cut the Braves’ lead to two goals at 3-1.

Just 15 minutes later at the 76:53 mark, Casey Smith took a pass from Brittany Bauscka and sent a shot towards goal, just past UNC Pembroke keeper Rea Segoviano to pull North Georgia to within a goal.

The Lady Saints had chance after chance late in the game, but were never able to convert another score as UNC Pembroke held on for the 3-2 victory in both teams regular season finale.