Bobcats battle tough PBC foes

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The GCSU soccer team continued its march through the Peach Belt Conference schedule this past week, facing two tough opponents and coming away with a tie and a loss.

The Bobcats faced North Georgia College & State University this past Sunday and came away with a 1-1 tie. The tie was the second in a row for the Bobcats and the third of the season.

For the first 45 minutes of the game, numerous shots were taken by both teams but none of them entered the net.

The Bobcats sprung into action at the start of the second half. Just two minutes in, senior forward Lyric Burnett, with an assist from senior defender Kara Teresi, put a well-aimed shot off a breakaway into the back of the Saints’ net, giving the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.

In the 54th minute, North Georgia came extremely close to tying when a shot caused junior goalkeeper Mary Rob Plunkett to make a diving save. Even though Plunkett was able to get a hand on the shot, she remained on the ground, giving the Saints an open shot on net. When an North Georgia player kicked the ball toward the goal, freshman defender Jamie Colcord was able to deflect the shot, preventing what looked to be a certain goal for the Saints.

NGSU refused to give up and eventually did tie the score in the 57th minute when they worked the ball into Bobcat territory and sent it into the net to make the score 1-1.

Although the Bobcats were able to outshoot the Saints 9-3 in the second half, neither team was able to score another goal for the remainder of the game, sending into overtime.

“We kind of started to doubt ourselves a little bit once they scored,” senior defender/midfielder Morgan Cobb said. “We kind of stepped down and let them play, so we played well but not the best.”

A scoreless first period of overtime meant that the game went into a second overtime session.

Near the end of that overtime period, the Bobcats almost declared victory when sophomore midfielder Karen Bonilla kicked the ball over the Saints’ diving goalkeeper to Teresi, who put the ball into the net. In what looked to be a victory for the Bobcats, the shot was called back due to an offsides penalty and the score remained at 1-1, which is where things ended.

In the Bobcat’s goal, Plunkett was able to make six saves.

This past Wednesday night, the Bobcats traveled to Armstrong Atlantic State University and were shut out 1-0.

Armstrong Atlantic gained its lead over the Bobcats in the 18th minute when Erin Holt was able to get a shot into the back of the GCSU net, giving the Pirates a 1-0 advantage.

Even though GCSU outshot AASU 17-7, the Bobcats could not get a shot into the net and the Pirates earned the 1-0 shutout victory.

In the GCSU goal, Plunkett made seven saves.

The Bobcats are on the road this weekend to face Clayton State University on Saturday.

“We’re just going to keep pushing,” head coach Juan Pablo Favero said. “We have to persevere because the results are not what we want them to be. We’ve got to keep believing and pushing.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 9 2009. 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