September 28, 2008
Furman Edges Georgia Southern In Overtime Thriller, 4-3
Greenville, S.C. -- Alexa Jones scored less than five minutes into overtime to give Furman a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Georgia Southern in Southern Conference women’s soccer action Sunday afternoon at Stone Soccer Stadium.
The win improves Furman to 7-3-1 overall and 1-1 in the SoCon. Georgia Southern drops to 3-4-2 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Sara El-Shami served a pass to Martha Hall in the left side of the box and Hall centered a pass to Jones who beat Georgia Southern keeper Lauren Santos to the right hand side at 94:13 to secure Furman’s first SoCon victory of the season. The goal was the fourth for Jones and her second game-winning tally of the season.
“That certainly wasn’t the way we would choose to draw up a win, but I am proud of our team for continuing to fight and finding a way to get the victory,” said Paladin coach Andrew Burr. “Georgia Southern played well today and I am glad we were able to answer the challenge in the end.”
Furman jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes of the second half on goals from senior Rachel Fry and Hall. Similar to the game-winning tally, El-Shami delivered a free kick into the box to Hall who picked out Fry inside the six-yard box for the easy tap-in at 50-35. At 53:42, Fry returned the favor sending a through ball to Hall who laced a shot past Santos from 12 yards to double the Paladin lead.
Danae Kaimuloa cut the lead in half just after the 58 minute mark when Ashley Toussaint drew Paladin keeper Jessica Smith off her line on a two-on-one break and fed Kaimuloa for the shot into the open net. Toussaint tied the match in the 67th minute with her league-leading seventh goal of the season. Niki Lepper played a through ball to trigger Toussaint on a one-versus-one with the keeper and the senior lined a shot into the left side to even the match at 2-2.
Georgia Southern continued the offensive onslaught at 69:32 as Kaimuloa settled a Caroline Rutledge free kick, spun and fired past Smith for her second goal of the half to give the Eagles a 3-2 advantage.
The Paladins pushed extra players into the attack and in the 86th minute found the equalizer on Lucy Martin’s second goal of the season. Fry took the ball at the top of the box and played it wide to Martin who hammered a 23-yard shot into the far side netting at 85:05 to force overtime and set up Jones’ eventual winner.
Furman held a 12-7 edge in shot attempts and 4-0 advantage in corner kicks. Smith made one save in earning the victory for Furman while Santos stopped four shots four the Eagles.
Furman continues SoCon play when it travels to Boone, N.C., to face Appalachian State on Thursday at 7 p.m.
