Fairfax, Va. - The Georgia State women's soccer team was held scoreless, falling 2-0 to George Mason (9-6-1, 5-3-0), ranked 10th in the Mid-Atlantic region, in Fairfax, Va. on Sunday afternoon. The loss drops Georgia State, the seventh-ranked team in the Mid-Atlantic region, to 11-4-2 on the season and 5-2-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association.
The Panthers were outshot by the Patriots 21-6, with half of Georgia State's shots being on goal. Despite the trio of chances at goal, GSU ended the match with no points on the board. Freshman defender Alyssia Feronti led the Panthers in shooting, firing three shots in the first half.
"It was hard fought battle," said head coach Domenic Martelli. "We had a goal early that went over the line and was questionable but was not given to us. We then fought down 1-0 for the entire game. We got a goal midway through the second half on a free kick header that was also taken away from us. We created enough chances to get a better result today, it just wasn't in our favor in the end."
Senior forward Apryl Goodwin created an early scoring opportunity at the 4:54 mark but her shot was denied by George Mason's goalkeeper Alex Bodenschatz. Freshman forward Jewel Evans followed up Goodwin's shot less than a minute later but the Patriot defense managed a save before the shot met the back of the net. Feronti also got her foot on an early shot but her ball could not make it past the Patriot's keeper.
George Mason's goal came early in the first half after only eight minutes of play. Patriot Capricia Alston fielded a pass from teammate Omolyn Davis and kicked it just inside the near post to get by the hands of junior goalkeeper Kellianne Collins and put George Mason up 1-0.
Georgia State took three unanswered shots in the remaining part of the first half and George Mason remained ahead at halftime 1-0.
Georgia State found a goal midway through the second half off a free kick from junior defender Bri Cagle that junior midfielder Erinique Owens got a head on. Unfortunately, the goal was not counted and the Panthers remained down by one.
In an effort to find the equalizer, Georgia State loaded up on offense and added more forwards to their front line, leaving the defense short on support.
George Mason tallied again with less than 10 minutes remaining on the clock with a second goal from Alston to cement the Patriots 2-0 victory.
"George Mason is a very good team on the road and at home," said Martelli. "They were physical. They were fast. They were athletic. Splitting a weekend on the road in the CAA is very good. We came up and played as hard as we could and got it taken away from us. We'll take motivation from this. We can only control what we can control. We have to move on to another weekend away."
The Georgia State women's soccer team will return to competition Friday, Oct. 22 as it travels to Hempstead, N.Y. to take on top-ranked Hofstra.
