Texas State

The Georgia Southern women’s soccer team tied with the Texas State Bobcats with a score of 1-1 Friday night.

The game was decided to be called after a gruesome double overtime, which saw the players go back and forth with lots of shots on goal but neither team could connect to put the other team away for good.  

 Junior Nora El-Shami came up big for the Eagles in the first half with the team’s only goal with an assist from Sydney Keer with a left flank shot from the five. The Bobcats’ own Lynsey Curry fired back with a beautiful cross to far post shot.

“I thought we played hard. We are coming off a tough patch on the road so it’s nice to come home. I felt like we came out with a lot of energy, a lot of passion that we hadn’t showed in the last few games, so it’s nice to see that they showed a lot of resiliency,” Eagle Head Coach Brian Dunleavy said. “First Half I thought we played some really nice soccer. A little unfortunate to not close out the half, a little disappointed with the lack of focus to close the half out, but other than that little lapse. I can’t fault anyone, everyone played hard, created a lot of chances. Statistics 15 shots to 12, it felt more in our favor, a lot of quality chances, but good team that we played against, I’m happy with the results, but I’m even happier with the performance.”

App State

Eagle Field was properly defended in front of a packed stand Sunday afternoon by the women’s soccer team.

In the season’s final home game and senior day, the soccer team got their well-earned goose egg against a formidable opponent in Appalachian state. With a final score of 2-0, Ga. Southern got out to an early lead from a penalty kick in the second minute scored by junior forward Nora El-Shami. The goal was the earliest of the year for the Eagles, and also wouldn’t be the last of El-Shami for the day. She opened up the second half with a score in the 50^th minute off an unassisted finesse shot to the keeper’s right side from eight yards out.

The score did not reflect the game completely, considering Appalachian State more than doubled our shot total, 20 to 9. Having seen this statistic, big ups to senior keeper Katie Merson for playing with a focus to lead her team. She had some incredible saves, one coming from a bicycle kick she got just enough of to push off the top crossbars in the twentieth minute of the game. Her quality performance did not stop in the second half, when App. State put up an array of shots in the last 30 minutes, seven on goal with no successful penetration.

With the regular season over, Ga. Southern women’s soccer looks to make an impact in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the fourth seed. They’ll be traveling to Mobile, Ala. on Nov. 5, where they’ll play fifth-seed App. State again.