STATESBORO, Ga. (10/3/14) – The Arkansas State soccer suffered a 2-0 loss to Georgia Southern in its Sun Belt Conference road opener Friday night at Eagle Field.
Georgia Southern scored two first half goal to put A-State in a hole it could not recover from. Melinda Lukas put the Eagles out in front in the 15th minute with a low cross in front of the net and that A-State goalkeeper Amanda Lee could not get to. Sydnie Van Curen setup Lukas with a pass into open space to setup the goal.
Stephanie Gratto added to the lead in the 37th minute on another cross in front of the goal that resulted in a wide open shot inside the box. Alli Brashear and Taylor Burns setup the goal with passes that allowed Gratto to move into open space for the strike.
A-State (3-9-0, 0-3-0 SBC) had a scoring opportunity early in the match when Ava Abner put a strike on goal that nearly found its way in, but Eagles' goalkeeper Katie Merson made the stop to keep the game scoreless at the time. Mykel Ward also had a scoring opportunity in the 67th minute but Merson again prevented A-State from cutting into the Georgia Southern (8-2-1, 3-0-0) lead.
Katie Hosea, Lauren Crimi and Jordan Adams also took shot attempts for Arkansas State on the afternoon. Lee made seven saves in goal on the night.
A-State returns to Sun Belt Conference action on the road Sunday, Oct. 5 at Georgia State. Kickoff is set for Noon and fans can keep up with all the action by following @AStateGameday on Twitter for up to the minute information. Live stats for the match will be provided at AStateStats.com. For the latest on Arkansas State soccer follow the team on Twitter (@AStateSoccer) and Facebook (Arkansas State University Soccer).
