Mobile, Ala. – The Georgia State women's soccer team was held scoreless falling 2-0 to Troy (3-2) in the Nike Port City Classic on Friday evening. With the defeat, the Panthers drop to 4-2-0 on the season.

Georgia State outshot the Trojans 18-10, with 12 of those shots on goal. Despite their lofty scoring attempts, the Panthers were unable to penetrate the hands of Troy's goalkeeper and ended the match with no points on the board.

“I think mentally we wanted to go into the game a certain way,” said head coach Domenic Martelli. “The game just took our style out and favored theirs. Once they went up with that second goal, they put very little pressure and packed it in on defense. It would have been to finish on some of those shots on goal we had. That would have made such a big difference in the game.”

Troy's first goal came early in the first half after only 12 minutes of play. Troy's Kailini Decock took a shot from 18 yards out that senior goalkeeper Heidi Blankenship was unable to stop, giving Troy a 1-0 lead over the Panthers.

Losing an early goal lit a fire under the Georgia State offense. The Panthers tried for an equalizer powering five shots on goal in the in the next 12 minutes. Freshman Jewel Evans, sophomore Jocelyn Baker and senior Apryl Goodwin all tested Troy's goalkeeper but none found their way to the back of the net. Freshman Alyssia Feronti's shot missed by mere inches, hitting the crossbar and bouncing back in the field of play.

The Trojans struck once more with just over 15 minutes to go in the first half. Troy's Mary Morris took a shot that scooted by Blankenship in the near left post to increase the Trojan's lead by two to end the first half.

The Panthers started the second half determined to get on the board. Seven Georgia State players fired shots on goal in the second half attempting to notch a goal, yet none were able to break through Troy's defense. Neither team was able to register a score in the second half, leaving Troy to claim victory with a final score of 2-0.

“We saw glimpses of a lot of dangerous and exciting play from ourselves,” said Martelli. “We need to work on taking some of those glimpses and carrying them out throughout the entirety of the game. We need to put ourselves in the positive column and not in the negatives so quickly. Overall, we learned a lot from this game. I think the next step is to have a good practice session on Saturday and come out on Sunday with a whole new sense of urgency and preparedness.”

Georgia State will look to win as they continue with the Nike Port City Classic on Sunday, Sept. 12 when they take on host of the tournament, South Alabama at 2:30 p.m.