Georgia State (6-4-2, 0-3-1) fell 1-0 to regionally third-ranked James Madison (7-5-0, 3-1-0) Sunday in Harrisonburg, Va.
"Traditonally, [James Madison] is one of the best teams in the conference. When you play them to a 1-0 game, you have to be proud of your team, but you also feel a little hurt to come so close," said Georgia State head coach Domenic Martelli. "We were up against a team that went to the sweet sixteen last year, and with such a young team that's a tough game for us."
Cate Tisinger scored the game-winning goal in the 51st minute for the Dukes. Junior Heidi Blankenship played all 90 minutes in goal, saving nine shots.
"We had a few chances, but these games on the road against quality teams you have to play a little better to get a good result," said Martelli. "VCU was a good result for us, we were close to having that again today. If we could have gotten to overtime, maybe we could have had a better opportunity."
Georgia State was outshot seven to 21 for the game, but had a slightly better percentage of shots on goal with four to James Madison's nine.
The Panthers made it through the first half in a scoreless tie, hanging with the Dukes in shots on goal trailing only three to five. Georgia State found the goal three times on only four shots with freshmen Sarah Bennett, Carly Lafferty, and Jocelyn Baker each having shots denied by James Madison keeper Diane Wszalek.
In the second half, James Madison scored the lone goal of the contest in the 51st minute on a curved ball from the right end line into the far corner of the goal by Cate Tisinger, her first of the year.
Georgia State's only shot on goal in the second half came on a Jocelyn Baker strike in the 79th minute of the game.
"We've got two very important home games coming up against teams that we've had success against in the past," said Martelli. "Whoever shows up and wants it the most will prevail. We need some wins to get back into the mix. With so many teams beating up on each other, we have a chance to get up there."
Georgia State returns home next week with two Colonial Athletic Association matches at Panthersville. The Panthers take on George Mason at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 9, the first night game in school history, and face Towson on Sunday, October 11 at 1 p.m.
"It's tough to have four games on the road at the beginning of conference play, and we'll be happy to get back home," said Martelli. "Everybody played well this weekend, our defense was terrific. We're a very young team and we're starting all underclassmen. That's a young team in this strong of a conference. Hopefully we matured this week and we'll be able to get some good results at home this week."
