Mobile, Ala. – After playing through two overtimes, the Georgia State women's soccer team had to settle for a 1-1 tie against South Alabama (2-4-1) on Sunday afternoon to end competition in the Nike Port City Classic. The tie moves the Panthers to 4-2-1 on the season.

Junior midfielder Erinique Owens scored the lone goal for Georgia State, taking her season total to four. Senior goalkeeper Heidi Blankenship registered four saves in Sunday's draw against the Jaguars and two in Friday's match-up against Troy bringing her career saves total to 279. She rose from third place and now sits at No. 2 in the Panther record books for most career saves and less than 35 saves away from the coveted top-ranked spot.

Great performances throughout the weekend by junior defender Bri Cagle and senior midfielder Kaila Muecke landed them on the Nike Port City Classic All-tournament team.

“We created probably the most chances we have created so far this whole year,” said head coach Domenic Martelli. “We probably had three bona fide goals that were saved by their keeper. Tonight we came out like gang-busters, scored early and really dominated the game. We really showed up today to play a good game. The biggest thing I would say we need to work on is turning those missed scoring opportunities into goals for our team. That is the one thing I feel like is keeping us from turning some of these ties and losses into wins.”

The Panthers struck first in the game when Owens landed a shot at the back of the net in the fifth minute of play with an assist from senior Apryl Goodwin to give Georgia State an early 1-0 lead.

The Jaguars had the chance to even the score in the first half taking seven shots, yet they were unable to penetrate the Panther defense and Georgia State entered into halftime ahead by one.

South Alabama found its equalizer 20 minutes into the second half when the Jaguars' Kasey Crowe fired a shot past junior goalkeeper Kellianne Collins to take the score to an even 1-1.

Georgia State rallied in the final minutes of regulations for a game winner, taking four unanswered shots on goal. Despite the Panthers' scoring opportunities, the clock ticked to zero with the score still even at one a piece.

The Panthers had two great chances to score in the first overtime. The first came five minutes into play when a ball was dropped right in front of junior Lindsay Mortallaro leaving her one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Mortellaro fired a shot on goal but was denied by the hands of South Alabama's Melissa Drish.

The second scoring chance came right at the end of signal time when freshman Jewel Evans crossed to sophomore Sarah Bennett who blasted it towards the Jaguar goal but hit the goalkeeper and sailed over the top post.

Despite taking four shots in the second overtime, Georgia State was unable to find the winning second goal and the score remained 1-1 as the game came to a close.

“Everybody really played well,” said Martelli. “It was one of those games where our defense played great. I think it overall it was a good game by everybody. “It really helped us to bounce back from the loss Friday to Troy. I have to give credit to South Alabama. Playing them was much like playing ourselves. We share similar strengths and weaknesses. We have two games left before we head into conference play and I feel like today's game was a great opportunity to prepare for our competition in conference.”

The Georgia State women's soccer team returns to competition Friday, Sept. 12 when they travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to face off against Winthrop.

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