NORFOLK, Va. – It was an offensive showdown Thursday night, but a game-winning goal by Whitney Ravan in the first overtime period gave Georgia State a 4-3 win over Old Dominion.

After a first half that featured six total goals, and second half that had none, the match went into overtime for Georgia State’s third overtime match of the season. They were 0-1-1 in overtime matches before tonight. Four minutes into the overtime period, junior Alyssia Feronti crossed from the left side and Ravan deflected the pass into the right corner. The win was the team’s first since September 9 and the first conference win of the season.

"It's nice to be on other end of these close games and get a win in overtime, since we've been on bottom end recently," coach Derek Leader said after the match. "To be able to score four goals has the team feeling good about ourselves. Obviously we need to prevent goals scored against us, but the girls really came through and performed above and beyond expectations. We're happy many players able to provide spark and different players were able to score goals in the game. We were glad to have young players gain a lot more minutes in the match as well. Everyone from the back line to front were very dangerous and played huge part in the win. It comes at a good time and now we need to get ready to face a very good William & Mary at home."

Old Dominion’s Kelly Evans struck first in the match, scoring the first of seven goals in the match just two minutes in. Not to be outdone, junior Lyndsey Gaffney leveled the score with a goal of her own less than one minute later. It was her second goal of the season. At the 14^th minute, Old Dominion’s Ashlee Coutu scored a goal off a blocked shot to put the Lady Monarchs up 2-1. Four minutes later, junior Jordan Young evened the score for the Panthers with an assist from Ravan.

The two teams battled for another 20 minutes before Old Dominion took the lead for the third time in the match. Meghan Cozens became the third different player for the Lady Monarchs to score in the match. And for the third time in the match, Georgia State responded swiftly, with a goal from Feronti to tie the match at 3-3 seven minutes before the end of the first half. That score would hold going into halftime despite a late flurry of shots from the Panthers.

Unlike the first half, the second half featured no goals scored by either team. Georgia State dominated the shots category by a margin of 7-to-2, but neither team could put it past the goalies. The match also featured four freshman players, Ashley Nagy, Miranda Griffin, Margaret Bruemmer and Lauren Harriman seeing increased minutes on the field. Leader said he was proud of their play and that was he was happy to have the opportunity to put them out there to garner more experience. 

This was Georgia State’s first four goal match since last season, when the Panthers accomplished that feat four different times over the season, including a win over Old Dominion. This is the second straight match where the Panthers have scored four goals against the Lady Monarchs. This match was also the best offensive showing for the Panthers. The team had its most shots (21), goals (4) and shots on goal (10). Three different players, Feronti, Young and Ravan, all recorded one goal and one assist in the match as well.

The Panthers will try and take this positive momentum into Sunday’s home match against William & Mary, who is currently receiving votes in the NSCAA poll. The match will feature players wearing pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and will kickoff at 1 p.m. at the GSU Soccer Complex.

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