Catawba Advances In NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament With 2-1 Overtime Win Over Georgia College and State

COLUMBUS, GA - Catawba rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to earn a 2-1 overtime win over Georgia College and State University in first round action on the 2008 NCAA II Southeast Regional Women's Soccer Tournament on Friday night at the Walden Soccer Complex. The win sends the fifth-seeded Catawba Indians, now 16-4-2, into a semifinal match-up with second seeded Columbus State on Sunday. The fourth-seeded Bobcats end their season at 13-3-4.

Senior Alyssa Shoenberg (Woodbury, MN/Woodbury HS) tallied the game winner, finding a loose ball off a deflection in front of the goal, in the fifth minute of overtime to give Catawba the win. The first team All-SAC and all-region defender was assisted on the goal by fellow defender Laela Ghorbani (Highlands Ranch, CO/Highlands Ranch HS).

Catawba would out-shoot GC&SU 10-9, but did not have one on target until Paige Harrington (Albemarle, NC/Albemarle HS) forced a save from Mary Rob Plunkett in the 60th minute. Harrington would get the assist on the tying goal by freshman Erinn Wescoat (Egg Harbor, NJ/Absegami HS) at the 66:35 mark.

The Bobcats took a 1-0 lead just before the half hour on a strike by Kayla Emerson in the 29th minute. GC&SU held a 7-3 edge in shots at the break, but Catawba limited the Bobcats to just two shots in the final half and overtime. Plunkett saved a pair of shots for GC&SU, while Lindsay Webster (Hopkinton, MA/Hopkinton HS) had five stops in goal for Catawba.