Soccer Bobcats suffer first setback
Sep. 12—There was a pattern developing in two matches for Georgia College & State University women's soccer: give up the first goal, come back with a leveler, then win it.
Only the leveling and winning parts were missing Saturday at the home field on West Campus. Valdosta State University rolled through the warm afternoon to take the victory 5-1. That gave the Bobcats and second-year head coach Jack Marchant their first setback in 2023, and they will attempt to get another winning streak going today (Tuesday, Sept. 12) in Milledgeville against another Gulf South Conference foe — West Georgia — at 6 p.m.
Ball control is important on a pitch, and Valdosta State was firmly the better possessing team on Saturday. It resulted in double the number of shots for the Blazers, 20 to 10, and corner kicks, 11 to 2, not to mention the all-important goals scored stat.
So GCSU was on the defensive, and the first save by goalkeeper Kassidy Fortin, a freshman, was at 42:30 of the first half. About four minutes later, the Bobcats played a good lead pass for one of those corners, and Sarah Mason used her head to clear the kick away from her net.
Mia Palumbo, a 5-10 freshman defender, shined particularly well for her 63 minutes with help from Chloe Markey, one of two twin sisters on the roster. Palumbo blocked a shot — taken off a corner — resulting in another corner kick, which resulted in a high attempt.
Still within the first 15 minutes of play, GCSU received the first of two yellow cards. Under the 30-minute mark of the half, Palumbo's defense led to a swing in possession, and Aralyn Everett made a crossing pass hit away by the VSU defense. The Blazers were back on offense forcing a save from Fortin at 27:55.
Over the next six minutes, Marchant got more strong defense from Markey and Amanda Ewers, Markey clearing the ball out of the penalty box at 21:30. She also broke up a sideline break (18:30). Valdosta State continued to push, and from a corner at 16:21, the ball bounced over the line to notch the first goal.
Coming out of an immediate water break, the Bobcats showed some aggression, and Sara Schultz, a sub who played at Gordon State, had her side's first shot on goal. The momentum didn't last, the Blazers returning to the attack and putting Markey to work to force one more corner. The Bobcats defending that and two more up to 10:30 with slapping work by Fortin. Her next save was at 8:50 from a crossing shot.
But with a one-on-one attack a few yards outside the box, Molly Woolridge connected for the first of her two goals at 6:50. The Blazers went into halftime up 2-0 despite receiving its own yellow card at 3:11. They did get a save to deny Ava Martin's bid at 1:40.
Fortin saved a goal 1:15 into the second half, and Sydney Charles saw her first action and cleared a ball five minutes later. As play moved on, Valdosta State had two free kicks within 35 yards of the goal but could not score. Fortin made two more saves at 31:40 and 30:38, and Palumbo drew a second yellow from the visitors at 25:28.
Still, the Blazer attack was too much scoring a third time on the move at 24:59.
Palumbo, who would make a steal on the ball, put GCSU on the board with 18 minutes to play when her team had its first corner kick. The Blazers, in just over a minute, got that point back when Woolridge rebounded Fortin's block of a shot and connected for the second time making it 4-1.
The lead went to the 5-1 final on a penalty kick at 10:12.
