Bobcats bounce back with big win

    The rainy weather may have kept the GCSU women’s soccer team caged last Wednesday but nothing stopped the Bobcats from unleashing their intensity in a sweeping victory against Shorter College on Saturday.
    After two difficult losses the previous week to Armstrong Atlantic State University and Lander University, the Bobcats were determined to dominate on their home field.
    “Our mindset going into the game against Shorter College was to keep everything intense on the bench and on the field,” said freshman mid-fielder Karly Zapp. “We knew we needed to win and we focused on staying hyped up.”
    Shorter took the lead eight minutes into the game but their first goal was also their last.
    GCSU senior, Alex Stover, broke through the defense ten minutes later with a pass that freshman Kelli McLane put in the back of the net to tie up the game. Shortly after, Zapp, assisted by sophomore Jamie Nevin and freshman Kayla Emerson, scored her second career-goal putting GCSU in the lead.
    Team work was an obvious theme of the game as the Bobcats went on to score four more goals against Shorter, totaling six goals by six different GCSU players. The Bobcats beat Shorter College with a final score of 6-1. GCSU freshman Keri Wright scored her first career-goal and sophomores Lyric Burnett and Daria Owen both scored their first goals of the season.
    “We like playing at home obviously,” said GCSU head coach Robert Parr. “Even though the game didn’t start off the way we wanted, we recovered nicely and accomplished our goal of getting different players involved on offense.”
    Zapp credits Parr’s pre-game speech contributing to the successful victory for the team.
    “He didn’t tell us to go kill the other team, instead he encouraged bringing out the team’s chemistry and finally we realized we all needed to get on the same page,” Zapp said. “There were these three rules on the board and one of them was to play for the team and everyone really took that to heart.”
    Plenty of GCSU soccer fans turned out to cheer the team on and show their support. Zapp said the opposing teams never have the high attendance and community encouragement that the Bobcats have on their home field.
    “We have amazing female athletes at this university; especially in soccer,” said Amit Patel, a senior business major. “The GCSU women’s soccer team is very talented, they definitely deserve a huge, supportive crowd at their games.”
    The Lady Bobcats did receive a lot of support from their fans and from each other as they defended their territory against Shorter College last Saturday. They hope to continue their intensity as they move forward in the season.
    “We are working on putting all the pieces together both offensively and defensively,” Parr said. “The focus will be on consistency for the upcoming games and throughout the rest of the season.”
    The GCSU women’s soccer team is on the road this week. Their next game will be Thursday, Oct. 11 against Georgia Southwestern State University at 4 p.m. in Americus.
    The Bobcats’ next home game will be this Saturday when the host Mars Hill College at 5 p.m.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 12 2007. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry