By Chantal Fountain, Sport Journalist
The UNC Pembroke Braves girls’ soccer team battled the North Georgia Night Hawks Friday afternoon, but it was the Night Hawks that came away with the win 1-0 with a late score in the first half.
The lone goal for the Night Hawks came in the 31st minute on a goal by Bailey Vessell from outside the box. The defense was there for both sides as the Night Hawks held the 1-0 lead at the half.
The Braves came out the second half looking for a goal to tie the game, but the defensive battle was there for both sides as the Night Hawks prevented any attack that the Braves had. Goalie Chiara Coppin recorded five saves in the loss, only allowing one goal from the Night Hawks. Braves maintained a strong goal presents and made several strong shots against the Lady Nighthawks goalie, with Anna Grossheim recording four shots on goal and Reagan Carr with the other shot on goal.
Head coach Lars Anderson made it very clear he was proud of his girls and the efforts they put on the defensive and offensive side.
“We were disappointed this was a team we had beat in our season opener last year now they’re very good team just like us. They were a NCAA tournament participant last year. It may go against common wisdom to open up with a NCAA tournament participant like that, but I think our team can handle it.” Anderson said. “I am pleased we with the way we played but we lost one important statistics goal scored. Obviously, I’m biased but I say we dominated seventy-five of the 90 minutes. The second half they struggled to get over the halfway line to get into the end of our pit. So, I am disappointed we didn’t win we had enormous about of opportunity to equalize but to put the game away, again I’m bias and no disrespect to North Georgia I do feel that we are a better team.” He spoke.
The Braves will look to rebound on Sunday when they hit the road and travel to West Virginia in a game against Davis and Elkins. Kickoff is set for 1pm.