ATLANTA--Junior Gimel Gordon went on a mad dash down the right wing, then dashed away from his teammates as he celebrated his goal in the 80th minute that led GSU to a 1-0 victory over No. 22 William & Mary Wednesday night at Panthersville.
This win is the first GSU victory over a ranked opponent since the Panthers surprised No. 6 Clemson 2-1 in 2001 and the first victory at home over a top 25-ranked opponent in school history.
"A win like this is huge for the program and really big for this season," GSU head coach Brett Surrency said.
Gordon's goal, his second of the season, was a brilliant individual effort from the forward. He received a long pass before he shielded the ball, chipped it, then took off on a dead sprint down the right sideline. As he cut toward the middle and sped away from a defender, Gordon wired a shot inside the near post before his teammates cleared the nearby bench to celebrate the goal.
"He's been doing a really good job of getting into the spots but not pulling the trigger," Surrency said of Gordon. "We had a film session with him today and showed some clips from the past few games and what we wanted from him. Today was what we wanted from him."
Gordon's game-clinching goal in the latter part of the second half capped a dominating effort from GSU (8-2-1, 2-1) as it outshot Colonial Athletic Association rival William & Mary 13-9 for the match and held a 9-3 advantage in corner kicks. The defense once again paved the way to victory as Georgia State's defense allowed only one shot on goal, a relatively harmless drive from Tribe sophomore Ben Coffey in the 49th minute.
GSU goalkeeper CJ Cochran, this week's CAA Rookie of the Week, stopped that one shot to earn the win while the Tribe's (6-4, 3-1) goalkeeper, Colin Smolinsky, made six stops in the loss. For GSU this was a third straight shutout win, its first such streak since the first three games of the 1987 season.
"Organizationally I thought we were pretty good today with Chris Locandro, Peter Vania, Michael Nwiloh and Bo Stroup spearheading it," Surrency said of his CAA-best defense. "They are a tough group to break down. A lot of credit goes to the back line, they did a great job today."
The six goals the Panthers have allowed this season is the least amount of goals allowed in the first 11 games of a season.
The win also snapped a five-match losing streak for the Panthers against the Tribe in the CAA. For William & Mary, the Panthers ended the Tribe's streak of four straight shutout wins and stopped their streak of 445 minutes played without a goal allowed. GSU's triumph also broke a string of four shutout losses by the Panthers to the Tribe. The last time GSU scored a goal against the Tribe was in a 2-4 loss in 2006 and its only win came in 2005, GSU's first year in the CAA.
Georgia State improved its unofficial record to 3-7 all-time against top 25-ranked opponents with the win. They are 1-1 this year with this win and a 1-0 loss to No. 20 USF.
The Panthers travel to Boston, Mass. on Saturday to continue conference play against 5-4-1 Northeastern (6 p.m.). Check www.GeorgiaStateSports.com later this week for a match preview and a link to live video of the match.
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