Peach State Soccer Recap: Checking in on Georgia’s Division 1 soccer programs

Georgia State

The Panther men started their season this past weekend as they opened with a trip to Mercer and a home match against Memphis. A penalty kick in the game’s 31st minute was the difference in a 1-0 Friday night victory for the Bears. The Panthers were able to bounce back two days later with a 4-1 victory over Memphis, a match in which Hannes Burmeister notched three goals (52’; 62’, pen.; 68’) to help the GSU effort.

On the women’s side, the Panthers played only one weekend game on Friday, a 4-1 home loss to visiting Charlotte. The 49ers held a 19-6 edge in shots and a 7-0 advantage in corner kicks. Taina Anglade was GSU’s lone goalscorer.

Kennesaw State

The Owls stayed unbeaten in the early going as they took on Mercer and Alabama A&M this past weekend. In a 4-2 home win over the Bears, Cassidy Kemp scored twice, while Brittney Reed scored one and assisted on another. KSU found themselves on the long end of a 19-7 shot count. Maddie Clark scored a pair of penalty markers for Mercer to give herself three goals thus far this season.

Next up was Alabama A&M, and the Bulldogs were no match for the Owls as KSU blitzed their way to an 8-0 rout in Benji Walton’s 100th career win. Shannon Reed scored a hat trick and assisted on a fourth, Kim Fincher added a pair of goals and two assists, and Ashley Zambetti was completely untested as the Owls dominated in shots, 27-1 (13-0 on goal).

Georgia

UGA swept a pair of matches in Athens over the weekend. Samford was first up on Friday as they were dropped by the Dawgs 3-1. Marion Crowder scored a pair for Georgia (38’, 52’) and Lauren Tanner added a 59th minute tally as they bounced back from an early 1-0 deficit to score three answered.

The Dawgs made it two-for-two in a 2-0 win over Cal State Fullerton. Tanner opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with her second in as many games, and Kelsey Killean converted a 77th minute penalty to ice the game away late.

Mercer

The Mercer men’s lone game of the weekend came in the 1-0 win against Georgia State on Friday. They’ll hit the road to take on South Carolina in Columbia today.

The women hoped to bounce back from Friday’s road loss to Kennesaw State, but it wasn’t to be as they gave up a 3-0 result at Tennessee Tech. The Golden Eagles got on the board in the 7th minute and added tallies late in the 41st and early in the 68th for the victory. Mercer was held to just six shots, but only one was on frame.

Georgia Southern

The Eagle men split a pair of games at the Houston Baptist Invitational this weekend, which opened with a 4-1 victory over the host Huskies. Blake Wilson got the 2016 campaign off to a flying start with a hat trick (12’, 48’, 54’) to help the GSU cause. But a late goal conceded in the 86th minute was the difference two days later as UTRGV defeated the Eagles 1-0. GSU had six shots on frame but failed to do any damage against the Vaqueros as they fell to 1-1.

The women had an unbeaten weekend in a pair of overtime battles. Against North Florida on Friday, Jennifer Wittick’s match-tying goal in the 60th minute stood up as the two teams battled to a 1-1 draw. That was despite a combined 38 shots on goal; GSU had 12 shots on goal to UNF’s seven. Two days later, the Eagles won a wild 4-3 against Charlotte in overtime. Junique Rodriguez’s sudden death winner with 52 seconds left in the first OT period capped off a back and forth battle that saw a total of seven goals and 37 shots.

Coming Up This Week

Georgia State
MSoc - 9/2 vs. Lipscomb; 9/4 vs. Central Arkansas
WSoc - 9/2 vs. Alabama A&M; 9/4 at Western Kentucky

Kennesaw State
9/2 at Western Carolina; 9/4 at UNC Asheville

Georgia
9/2 vs. Southern Cal; 9/4 vs. Iowa State (both in Auburn, AL)

Mercer
MSoc- 9/2 vs. Winthrop; 9/4 vs. Gardner-Webb (both in Spartanburg, SC)
WSoc - 9/2 at Charlotte; 9/4 at Presbyterian

Georgia Southern
MSoc - 9/2 at Stetson; 9/4 at Jacksonville
WSoc - 9/2 at Winthrop