ATLANTA – The Georgia State women's soccer team fell to 25th-ranked Georgia, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon in Panthersville. The loss drops the Panthers to 3-1-0 on the season.

“Overall, we learned a lot today from a Top 25 team that is very talented,” said head coach Domenic Martelli. “We know better what we can do and what our plans are now moving forward. I thought the game management was very good at time and once we are able to keep everyone healthy and on the same page, we will be able to execute how we want and move forward”

The Panthers had two early scoring opportunities that they were unable to convert. The first came from sophomore Erin Hill, who took a powerful shot from the left corner of the box but was denied with a sliding save from Georgia goalkeeper Ashley Baker.

Freshman Jewel Evans continued with the offensive attack just two minutes later when a well-placed pass from midfield left Evans on a solo breakaway towards the Georgia goal. Evans' chance at one-on-one with the goalkeeper was taken as the Georgia defender put pressure on Evans and her ensuing shot was wide to the right.

Georgia State's defense was able to hold Georgia scoreless for 23 minutes, denying several scoring chances for the Bulldogs. Senior goalkeeper Heidi Blankenship registered three saves throughout the first 20 minutes of play, including a diving deflection near the right post to deny Georgia the goal.

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute when Nicole Locandro dribbled a pass from Jamie Pollack and landed the ball in the right corner of the goal.

Georgia State quickly evened the score 1-1 with a goal from sophomore Sarah Bennett at the 26:13 minute mark. Hill completed a cross from the left, and Bennett was in the correct spot to finish with a shot on the ground in the right corner of Georgia's goal.

“You have to give credit to our goal,” said Martelli. “That goal was beautiful and well-executed. The whole setup was awesome, and Sarah's beautiful finish was good to put as at 1-1 and look to the rest of the half to pull ahead.”

Georgia would score once more before the end of the half in the 41st minute when Meghan Gibbons scored off an assist from Laura Eddy taking the Bulldogs ahead 2-1 at halftime.

At the beginning of the second half, the Panthers had a chance at an equalizer when a Georgia State corner kick ended with a header from junior Erinique Owens. Owens' header had the power behind it but missed the back of the net just wide of the left post.

Georgia lengthened its lead 3-1 in the 57th minute with a second goal from Nicole Locandro. The Bulldogs would score twice more to reach the final score of 5-1 with both goals coming from Meghan Gibbons in the 67th and 72nd minutes.

“The game is 90 minutes and when you look at our game playing and how we executed, we executed for 45 minutes to a tee,” said Martelli. “I think unfortunately the late goal in the first half took a little bit of the wind out of our sails but we still came out and started the second half well. I think when you have the amount of injuries we have, you aren't able to have the proper rotation and not all players are playing the proper amount of time at the positions where they are best. When we did have everybody where we wanted them, the team did very well and we were right with Georgia toe-to-toe. We are just going to take what we learned from this game and look to get a win against Alabama A&M on Tuesday.”

The Georgia State women's soccer team returns to the field Tuesday when they take on Alabama A&M at Panthersville at 6 p.m.