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KENNESAW, Ga. – Despite a record crowd of 2,683 vocal fans, the Kennesaw State soccer team dropped a heartbreaking 2-1 decision to crosstown rival Georgia State as Whitney Raven scored the game-winning goal with less than 40 seconds remaining in the match on Friday night at KSU Stadium.
“We fought very hard in the second half to get that equalizer and we put them under a lot of pressure and eventually scored the goal,” said Head Coach
Rob King. “We went to three in the back to get that goal and we decided to keep it that way and really push them to see if we could get a winner. The gamble did not pay off tonight. Sometimes it does, sometimes is does not. We were a little slow to respond off of a ball that came into play and they put it in the box and beat us to get the winner.”
The Panthers (1-2-0) opened the scoring just four and half minutes into the first half with Jewel Evans one-touching in a cross from Ashley Nagy. Kennesaw State senior goalkeeper
Lauren Roberts (Rome, Ga./Marshall) appeared to get both hands on the ball, but was unable to stop it from crossing the goal line.
After trailing 1-0 at the half, the Owls came out with some key tactical changes in the second half. With the clock wound down, the intensity and physical play escalated. With just seven minutes left in the match, freshman
Danielle Gray once again came up big for the Owls. Gray headed in her team-leading fourth goal of the season on sophomore midfielder
Julia Nelson’s (Mariette, Ga./Hillgrove) corner kick from the right side of the field.
The match appeared to be headed to overtime when Raven notched her second goal of the season. GSU’s Alyssia Feronti first crossed the ball from the right side and found Jewel Evans, whose shot was turned away by Roberts. Racing in from the weak side, Raven slammed the ball into the back of the net to give the visitors a 2-1 victory.
Georgia State outshot the Owls by a slim margin of nine to seven, with four GSU shots on goal to KSU’s two. Redshirt-sophomore
Katrina Frost (Fayetteville, Ga./South Carolina), sophomore
Iyani Hughes (Chelsea, Ga./Chelsea) and Gray each recorded two shots to lead the Owls. Feronti had three shots for the Panthers.
“It was a good game,” continued King. “It is going to be a good rivalry in there. We look forward to playing them. The fans were fantastic tonight. We heard them cheering all game long. The result didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but it was a very exciting game. We still have plenty to do.”
Georgia State earned four corners to KSU’s three, while both teams combined for 21 fouls.
Roberts registered two saves in the match, with GSU goalkeeper Rebecca Ingram totaling one save.
Kennesaw State returns to action next weekend as the Owls battle against their final two Southeastern Conference opponents of the season. KSU first hosts Tennessee at KSU Stadium on Friday, Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. ET, before traveling to Arkansas for the Owls’ first road match of the season on Sunday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m.
Owls fans are encouraged to wear their Black and Gold on Friday in support of College Colors Day, with the first 150 fans receiving a free Black and Gold t-shirt.
Keep up with Owls soccer this year by following KSU on Twitter at
@KSUOwlNation and
@ksuOWLSsoccer, or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on Facebook.
