The Georgia Gwinnett women's soccer team dropped its season opener on Friday evening as the St. Thomas Bobcats (Fla.) opened the 2016 season with 3-1 victory over the Grizzlies.

"We played really tight tonight," stated GGC head coach Chris Kouns.  "Our team hasn't established our identity yet and is still in the learning process.  We are very young and faced a squad that had nine seniors, and their experience showed.  We had three real chances tonight at goal, but only capitalized once."

The Bobcats (1-0) struck first in the 14th minute when defensive center-mid Sarah Lyppert Thomsson broke through the Grizzlies' backline and netted a 25-yard strike to the upper right corner of the net to give St. Thomas the 1-0 lead.  Twelve minutes later, the Bobcats struck again as striker Andreina Sifontes pushed a pass through the box to Kortney Hinden, who chipped a shot over the outstretch hands of GGC goalkeeper Sophie Hoare.

Kouns continued, "Missing the penalty kick midway through the first half really took the wind out of our sails.  Nicole [Rodriguez] made an excellent shot, but the St. Thomas keeper made an excellent save as well.  A minute later, St. Thomas scored causing the two goal deficit at the half.  I'm very proud of the work displayed in the second half of play.  Amy [Morland] passed a great ball to Nikki [LeFevre] and others had chances as well."

Down 2-0 at the half, the Grizzlies (0-1) struck back in the 52nd minute to narrow STU's gap to 2-1.  Senior midfielder Nikki LeFevre gained position over an STU defender just inside the 18-yard box and received a touch pass from junior forward Dominique Fletcher that split the final Bobcat defenders.  Shortly after receiving the touch, LeFevre netted the first goal of the 2016, bringing the deficit to within one.

St. Thomas responded in the 63rd minute with an insurance goal as Thomsson landed her second goal of the night on a free kick from 35 yards out to give the Bobcats the 3-1 lead and eventual victory.

Kouns concluded, "We have another opportunity to make adjustments, tweak some good and bad things, and go after it again in just two days.  I'm excited to see what improvements we make and the chance to hopefully pick up our first win of the season on Monday.  Last season, we began the season with a loss against St. Thomas and ended up making the NAIA National Tournament.  I'm a firm believer that it's not how you start, but how you finish.  The rest of the journey is up to us and where we want to go."

The Grizzlies are back in action on Monday when they travel to Williamsburg, Ky., to face the University of the Cumberlands at 5:00 p.m.  Georgia Gwinnett will return to the Grizzly Soccer Complex on Wednesday when it hosts Life (Ga.) at 7 p.m.

Scoring Summary
13:16 – (STU) Sarah Lyppert Thomsson (unassisted)
26:00 – (STU) Kortney Hinden, assisted by Adreina Sifontes
42:23 – (GGC) Nikki LeFevre, assisted by Dominique Fletcher
62:56 – (STU) Sarah Lyppert Thomsson (unassisted)

By the Numbers
2 – Days until the Grizzlies face the University of the Cumberlands
4 – Corner kicks taken by Georgia Gwinnett
10 – Shots on goal by the Grizzlies
14 – Total shots taken by GGC
21 – Combined shots by GGC and St. Thomas

For all the latest on Grizzly Athletics, including news, scores, and features, visit GrizzlyAthletics.com.  Check out all the latest Grizzly Women's Soccer content and join the conversation by using @GGC_WSoccer on Twitter.
 

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