COLUMBUS, Ga. –
Andrea Fernandez scored two second half goals and
Grace Simon provided the penalty shootout tiebreaker after Flagler College and the University of North Georgia exhausted 110 minutes tied at 2-all in a Peach Belt Conference Tournament semifinal match Friday night at the Walden Soccer Complex. The Saints won the shootout, 4-3.
Flagler is now 8-2-6 overall and will face No. 2 Columbus State University on Sunday at 1 p.m. North Georgia moves to 11-3-3, but will likely get an at-large berth to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional. Flagler and Columbus State have met three times in the conference final with the Saints winning twice (2021 and 2022) and the other time was a draw in 2020, but Flagler won in a shootout.
After 90 minutes and two overtime periods, the two teams decided who advances in a penalty shootout. Grace McGill got the Nighthawks on the board first after the Saints missed on the first shot. UNG's keeper, Sierra Fowler converted and the Nighthawks led 2-0.
Cisel Akguel got the Saints on the board and
Samantha St. Pierre followed with conversion to tie it at 2-all. Meghan O'Brien, who did not play in the game, gave North Georgia a 3-2 lead.
Ella Gembicki and Simon followed with goals. Sam Cottle's shot was saved by
Henley Grunst and then Darby Olive tried to beat Grunst to the top left corner, but was denied.
Fernandez scored her first goal on a penalty kick in the 51
st minute. In the 58
th minute, Fernandez dribbled through several Nighthawk defenders before having the ball deflected to Akguel inside the box. Akguel's touch pass to Fernandez allowed her to drive to the left of the keeper and score.
Olive and Cottle scored first half goals for North Georgia.
Grunst collected a career-high 11 saves for Flagler. Fowler finished with just one save for UNG.
North Georgia out-shot Flagler 24-8 and held a 15-4 advantage in corner kicks.
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