No. 8 Georgia Gwinnett Escapes Eagles in 2OT
September 11, 2019
By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Reinhardt women's soccer continued taking steps in the right direction after putting a big scare into No. 8 Georgia Gwinnett on Tuesday night, as the Eagles and Grizzlies battled into double overtime before the hosts came away with the golden goal at 103:07.
The Reinhardt performance – which was paused by lightning during the bout – was nearly flawless on both sides of the ball for the majority of regulation. Brianna Smotherman would break into the scorebook in the 41st minute to give the hometown team a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
The Eagle defense continued to turn away the Georgia Gwinnett attack time and time again for nearly 84 minutes, but the Grizzlies rescued the outcome for the time being with a score at 83:21. Both teams combined for three shots in overtime before the hosts netted the lone attempt in the final extra time period to win.
Reinhardt managed only three shots in the second half and overtimes combined, but the overall team effort put the team in position to be victorious against one of the NAIA's best.
"Our team fought very hard tonight," head coach Andy Kaplan said. "We have continued to progress through our preseason, and we were very close to knocking off the No. 8 team in the country tonight, but none of us are satisfied. There were lots of great individual performances and an overall strong team performance. We are getting very close to performing at the level our program expects. We can't wait to begin our conference season this Saturday."
Offensively, Adriana Garcia tallied three shots while Adrien Merrilles had two. Caroline Johnson made five saves in the contest.
Appalachian Athletic Conference play begins Saturday evening at Union (Ky.).
Kick is set for 6 p.m.
For up-to-the-minute Eagles sports news, follow Reinhardt Athletics on Facebook, @RU_Eagles on Twitter and @ru_eagles on Instagram.
For more information on Reinhardt Women's Soccer, please click here.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Reinhardt women's soccer continued taking steps in the right direction after putting a big scare into No. 8 Georgia Gwinnett on Tuesday night, as the Eagles and Grizzlies battled into double overtime before the hosts came away with the golden goal at 103:07.
The Reinhardt performance – which was paused by lightning during the bout – was nearly flawless on both sides of the ball for the majority of regulation. Brianna Smotherman would break into the scorebook in the 41st minute to give the hometown team a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
The Eagle defense continued to turn away the Georgia Gwinnett attack time and time again for nearly 84 minutes, but the Grizzlies rescued the outcome for the time being with a score at 83:21. Both teams combined for three shots in overtime before the hosts netted the lone attempt in the final extra time period to win.
Reinhardt managed only three shots in the second half and overtimes combined, but the overall team effort put the team in position to be victorious against one of the NAIA's best.
"Our team fought very hard tonight," head coach Andy Kaplan said. "We have continued to progress through our preseason, and we were very close to knocking off the No. 8 team in the country tonight, but none of us are satisfied. There were lots of great individual performances and an overall strong team performance. We are getting very close to performing at the level our program expects. We can't wait to begin our conference season this Saturday."
Offensively, Adriana Garcia tallied three shots while Adrien Merrilles had two. Caroline Johnson made five saves in the contest.
Appalachian Athletic Conference play begins Saturday evening at Union (Ky.).
Kick is set for 6 p.m.
For up-to-the-minute Eagles sports news, follow Reinhardt Athletics on Facebook, @RU_Eagles on Twitter and @ru_eagles on Instagram.
For more information on Reinhardt Women's Soccer, please click here.