Junior Apryl Goodwin scored one goal and notched two assists in Georgia State's 3-0 win over South Alabama Friday at Atlanta Silverbacks Park. The win moves the Panthers to 6-1-0 on the season. The loss drops South Alabama to 2-5-0.
Georgia State was forced to change the time and venue of Friday afternoon's game due to weather concerns. The game was moved up to 4:30 p.m. from the original 7 p.m. start time and moved from Panthersville to the Atlanta Silverbacks' facility.
"It's good when you can take 34 shots in a game. Compared to the games we had earlier in the year, it's really pleasing," said Georgia State head coach Domenic Martelli. "We played up-tempo in the first half, which allowed us to do a lot of things we wanted to do coming in. We started out right away this game, as opposed to taking a little while to get going. It was good to have many more chances and get the goals that we did."
Junior Sarah Dashiell and freshman Sarah Bennett also scored goals on the afternoon. Junior Stephanie Cuccia and freshman Jocelyn Baker each contributed one assist.
Junior Heidi Blankenship and sophomore Kellianne Collins split the shutout in goal. The Panthers' defense is credited with their fourth shutout in the last five games.
In the first half, Georgia State battled the Jaguars to a scoreless opening 41 minutes. In the 42nd minute, the Panthers struck first with a header from Apryl Goodwin coming off of a Stephanie Cuccia pass. The play was set up by a Lindsay Mortellaro corner kick.
The goal is Goodwin's third of the season, the first since her two-goal performance in Georgia State's win over Morehead State.
Coming out of the half with a 1-0 lead, the Panthers wasted no time putting pressure on South Alabama. In the 54th minute, freshman Jocelyn Baker found Apryl Goodwin streaking down the sideline. Goodwin evaded the oncoming keeper, maintaining control of the ball, to find Sarah Dashiell in front of the goal to put the Panthers on top 2-0.
Dashiell's goal gives her four on the season. Today's goal is the first for Dashiell since her hat trick in Georgia State's 4-3 victory over North Florida.
The final goal of the game came as Apryl Goodwin had a point blank shot denied by South Alabama's Katie Berry. Freshman Sarah Bennett handled the rebound for a goal to put the game away 3-0 in Georgia State's favor. Goodwin was credited with the assist on the play.
Bennett's goal is the fifth of her season. She has scored at least one point in five of Georgia State's seven games.
In goal, Heidi Blankenship stopped four South Alabama shots in 75 minutes of play. Sophomore Kellianne Collins saw her first action of the year as she wrapped up the final 14 minutes to split the shutout.
Head coach Domenic Martelli found minutes for 23 different Panthers on the afternoon, allowing him to observe the play of Georgia State's bench.
"We have the depth to do very well," said Martelli. "We found that out today playing as many people as we did today, for as long as we did today. Our goal is to be 2-0 this weekend. We've accomplished the first part of that goal. Now we have to refocus for, as I see it, the biggest non-conference game on our schedule."
Georgia State faces off with Mercer on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Macon, Ga., trying to exact a measure of revenge for last year's 2-0 loss. Live stats will be available at www.GeorgiaStateSports.com for the contest.
