EVANS, Ga. — The Peach Belt Conference Tournament trophy is staying in St. Augustine.
 
For the third consecutive season, the Flagler College women's soccer team has won the PBC Tournament as the third-seeded Saints used four second-half goals to propel them past top-seeded Columbus State University, 5-3, in the PBC championship at Blanchard Woods Park Sunday afternoon.
 
The win earns the Saints (15-2-1) an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament with a chance to face Columbus State (18-2-1) again in the NCAA Southeast Region field, which will be announced tomorrow (Monday) night at 6 p.m. The selection show can be viewed on NCAA.com.
 
Flagler didn't waste any time getting on the board Sunday as Andrea Fernandez, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, found Chloe Byrne in the edge of the box on a cornerkick in the sixth minute. Byrne watched the ball fly into the net after she flicked it in, with this header being her second goal of the season and giving Flagler the early lead. The Cougars responded in the 11th minute and again in the 22nd via Maddy Peterson and Vanessa Aviles, respectively, to take the one-goal lead into half time.
 
But, there was no panic from the Saints. Six minutes out of intermission, Fernandez sent another cornerkick into the box and this time it was Sara Carr on the receiving end, heading it in for her second goal of the year and the equalizer. Less than a minute later in the 52nd minute, Moa Arlebo scored her second in as many matches via a cross from Liz Hall that proved to be the game-winning goal to put the Saints ahead for good.
 
"We started the game very well and found the breakthrough from a corner, but Columbus came right back at us, and unfortunately, we found ourselves trailing pretty quickly," Flagler head coach Ashley Martin said. "However, we knew that we could come back from a goal down, and went into the second half with real purpose. Every member of the squad performed today, whether they saw the field or not. Today was a fabulous team victory."
 
Annie Habeeb, who was on the PBC All-Tournament team alongside Arlebo and Lauren Lannan, joined the scoring party with a shot — via Emery Biggs — that trickled in past a CSU defender attempting to save it.  And then it was Josefine Nilsen putting the finishing touches on the five-goal day as she followed her shot and made goalkeeper Sara Halilhodzic pay with her ninth score of the season.
 
CSU would score 20 seconds later, but it didn't matter as goalkeeper Madison North rejected all other attempts with five saves and the Saints' offensive firepower was one the Cougars couldn't catch back up to. Flagler had 12 shots (nine on goal) to nine (eight on goal) for CSU, while the five goals were the most in a PBC championship game since 2009 when Armstrong State defeated Montevallo, 5-2.
 
The Saints were able to right their wrongs in a pair of regular-season losses by defeating both of those teams in the PBC Tournament. First on Friday it was Lander University as the Saints downed the Bearcats 2-1 in double-overtime, and then Flagler roared back with a 5-3 thump of the regular-season champion Cougars to win the program's third straight PBC Tournament trophy.

All-Tournament Team
Laura Duran Blanco, Georgia Southwestern
Isabel Massa, Clayton State
Tasha Kwatowski, USC Aiken
Alexis Bergamini, Georgia College
Sierra Fowler, North Georgia
Kaleigh Kileen, North Georgia
Annika Seifart, Lander
Kara Yandle, Lander
Brooke Ouimette, Columbus State
Lauren Barnes, Columbus State
Maddy Peterson, Columbus State
Moa Arlebo, Flagler
Lauren Lannan, Flagler
Annie Habeeb, Flagler

Most Valuable Player
Andrea Fernandez, Flagler
 
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