{"id":9257,"date":"2022-02-03T08:16:35","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=9257"},"modified":"2022-02-03T08:16:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:16:36","slug":"championship-berth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2022\/02\/03\/championship-berth\/","title":{"rendered":"Championship Berth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Women\u2019s Soccer Battles to the End in Team\u2019s First Sun Belt Title Match<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1371\" height=\"792\" src=\"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Team_21WSOC_CCU_AJH-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Team_21WSOC_CCU_AJH-2.jpg 1371w, https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Team_21WSOC_CCU_AJH-2-315x182.jpg 315w, https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Team_21WSOC_CCU_AJH-2-550x318.jpg 550w, https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Team_21WSOC_CCU_AJH-2-100x58.jpg 100w, https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Team_21WSOC_CCU_AJH-2-768x444.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1371px) 100vw, 1371px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In a close title match with defending champions South Alabama, the Eagles fought hard, but ended their first Sun Belt Championship run after a crushing second-half Jaguars score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Alabama built a 10-1 edge in shots in the first half, but both teams could only put one shot&nbsp;on goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the second half, Georgia Southern had a golden opportunity to take the lead just 14 seconds into play, but Vala Kristin Theodorsdottir&#8217;s header hit the right post and caromed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Jaguars would take the lead in the 57th minute as Sun Belt Player of the Year Gracie Wilson drove in from the right side and uncorked a shot four yards outside the box that curled inside the near post for the 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Eagles pressed for the equalizer in the final 15 minutes. A service from Maddie Klintworth was just inches out in front of Sade Heinrichs in an attempt to redirect it towards goal, and Theodorsdottir had a try from distance in the 83rd minute that was saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"315\" height=\"280\" src=\"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Theodorsdottir-VK_21WSOC_ULM_SBC-3-315x280.jpg\" alt=\"Women's soccer team\" class=\"wp-image-9259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Theodorsdottir-VK_21WSOC_ULM_SBC-3-315x280.jpg 315w, https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Theodorsdottir-VK_21WSOC_ULM_SBC-3-550x489.jpg 550w, https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Theodorsdottir-VK_21WSOC_ULM_SBC-3-100x89.jpg 100w, https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Theodorsdottir-VK_21WSOC_ULM_SBC-3.jpg 563w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 315px) 100vw, 315px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We gave it all we had and came up a little bit short today in the final,&#8221; Georgia Southern Head Women&#8217;s Soccer Coach Chris Adams said. &#8220;I believe our team should hold our heads high! This group has battled all year long and done everything that is asked of them. I am proud of their growth and maturity since I took over in December. I want to thank our seniors for all they have contributed to this program, and I want them to know that they made us proud. Hail Southern, and Go&nbsp;Eagles!&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the road to their first Sun Belt Championship appearance, the Georgia Southern women\u2019s soccer team fought their way through a field of fierce competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a first round bye, the fourth-seeded Eagles faced fifth-seeded Coastal Carolina, a team that beat them 4-1 during the regular season. After Marcela Montoya\u2019s goal 22 seconds into the second half, Georgia Southern kept the Chanticleers scoreless in their&nbsp;1-0 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They faced eighth-seeded University of Louisiana-Monroe in the semifinal. Despite their lower ranking, the Warhawks toppled top-seeded Arkansas State before facing the Eagles. ULM struck early, leading 1-0 until the second half, when Georgia Southern scored twice in four minutes, holding out for the comeback win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The electrifying championship run put the Eagles at 11-7-4 for the season&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;the Eagles first winning record since 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Four Eagles were named to the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the match &#8211; midfielder Olivia Durham, goalkeeper Michaela English, defender Sade Heinrichs and midfielder Marcela Montoya. Georgia Southern also placed three players on the All-Conference team&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;graduate student Marcela Montoya and redshirt freshman Elis Nemtsov were first-team honorees, while sophomore Sade Heinrichs was a second-team&nbsp;honoree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Women\u2019s Soccer Battles to the End in Team\u2019s First Sun Belt Title Match In a close title match with defending champions South Alabama, the Eagles fought hard, but ended their first Sun Belt Championship run after a crushing second-half Jaguars score. South Alabama built a 10-1 edge in shots in the first half, but both [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":9260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-9257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-winter-2022"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}