JONESBORO, Ark. (10/16/16) – The Arkansas State women's soccer team extended its winning streak to three straight with a 2-1 victory over Georgia State Sunday afternoon at the A-State Soccer Park.
A-State jumped out to a two goal advantage on a windy day that made it difficult to move the ball down the field through the air. The Red Wolves took advantage of having the wind in their favor in the first half and broke through when Lindsey Brochu who took a pass from Tayler Carter on a serve to near post and was able to redirect it to the far post for the score.
The goal was setup on an excellent throw in to Bailey Reed, who also assisted on the goal, who was able to give Carter a pass in perfect position to serve it into the box to setup Brochu's first career goal.
“We worked all on week on getting more players into the attack,” A-State head coach Brian Dooley said. “It really paid off on that goal by Lindsey Brochu and I think the kids really saw what we were trying do with that on that goal and it just started to build from there.”
The Red Wolves added to their lead in the second half when Reed earned her first goal of the season in the 47th minute. A free kick from Carter was deflected by Taylor Schneider toward the net and Reed found herself in position to redirect the ball past the goalkeeper in front of the net for the easy score.
“The early goal in the second half was just another case where we took advantage of a free kick and were in the right place at the right time,” Dooley said. “At that point my next worry was that a 2-0 lead can be the scariest type of lead to defend, but I thought the kids did well to defend it.”
Georgie State closed the gap to 2-1 after Amanda Bruemmer converting a penalty kick in the 83rd minute. The A-State defense tightened up after the goal and did not allow the Panthers to get off another shot.
Sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Ponder had four saves on the afternoon after not facing a shot in the first half. The St. Louis, Mo., native now has 106 saves on the season and is just two away from tying the Red Wolves' all-time single season record for saves in a year of 108 set by Susan Brown in 2009.
Ponder also made a terrific save in the 56th minute when Georgia State's Brooke Shank sent a ball toward the net that had a topspin on it that forced the young A-State keeper to punch the ball off the top of the crossbar and out of play to prevent the goal
“For the first time this season we had the advantage of being the team that did not play on Friday going against that did play on Friday so we wanted to take advantage of that, especially in the first half,” Dooley said. “As it turned out, it was a pretty windy day and the coin flip really made a difference and it fell to use nicely.”
Georgia State won the battle for corners, collecting 10 on the afternoon compared to A-State's one. The Red Wolves, however, took seven shots on goal to the Panthers five, while Georgia State committed 14 fouls while A-State had seven.
The victory, which ties the mark for the longest win streak in school history, places the Red Wolves in a three-way tie for third place in the Sun Belt Conference standings with Little Rock and Louisiana-Lafayette going into the final week of the regular season.
A-State will close out the regular Sunday, Oct. 23 against Georgia Southern at the A-State Soccer Park where it will also be senior day. Admission to the game against the Eagles is free, with live streaming also available for free on the Red Wolves Digital Network.
For the latest on information on the A-State women's soccer team, log onto AStateRedWolves.com or follow the team's Facebook page at Facebook.com/AStateSoccer and follow them on Twitter @AStateSoccer.
