PANTHERSVILLE, Ga. ? Senior forward Nathalie Carter scored two goals in her final home game as she led the Georgia State University women's soccer team to a 3-0 victory over Colonial Athletic Association foe Old Dominion at the Panthersville Athletics Complex on Sunday, keeping the Panthers postseason hopes alive.
Carter scored the game's first goal in the 28th minute when she received a short pass from junior forward Kay Harbrueger in front of the goal and rifled the ball into the back of the net for her 10th goal of the season.
Eleven minutes later, Harbrueger pushed the advantage to two goals when the Florida native launched a free kick into the bottom left corner of the net, her seventh goal of the season.
The prolific scoring duo would combine again early in the second half to push the lead to three when Harbrueger chipped a corner kick from junior defender Kristen McKillop towards Carter, who powered the ball into the bottom left corner in the 50th minute.
With the win, Georgia State (9-8-0, 4-6-0) is still in the hunt for a berth into the CAA postseason tournament with one game remaining. The Panther entered the contest in ninth place in the conference and Towson sat in sixth, the final sport receiving a bid to the tournament, with a conference mark of 3-4-1.
“We knew no matter what we had to win today,” said Georgia State head coach Domenic Martelli. “We learned from some of our earlier losses and closed this game out strong. We have great momentum headed into Thursday's game with Wilmington and this is going to be the most important game of the year.”
The Panthers and Old Dominion (7-7-2, 3-6-1) fought evenly throughout the contest, but the Panthers were able to take one more shot on goal, with 10 to nine for the Monarchs, and three State shots found the net, while Georgia State freshman goalkeeper Heidi Blankenship played a clean game, recording a shutout with six saves.
While Carter led the team with two goals, Harbrueger was relentless in the first half and recorded five shots with four one goal to go with a goal and an assist pacing State's offensive attack early.
Georgia State will now wait for Sunday's league results before assessing their position and postseason hopes with one game remaining. Check GeorgiaStateSports.com for updates on the women's soccer team as they continue their push towards the postseason.
