Box Score COLUMUBS - Stephanie Lowery scored less than two minutes into the second half to lead No. 10 Columbus State to an important 1-0 victory over PBC foe Georgia College Saturday afternoon. CSU improves to 14-1-1 overall and 7-1 in the Peach Belt while Georgia College drops to 7-6-1 on the year and 4-3-1 in conference.
The only real threat that Georgia College had on the day came early in the contest. After a few passes through the midfield that found Karen Bonilla in the box, her initial shot was blocked, but she took a follow-up shot which Willi Babillis dove to make the save and keep the visitors off the board.
From there, the Lady Cougars would control much of the flow of play. Off a short corner kick in the 27th minute, Lowery penetrated into the GC defense and played a ball into the box which Stephanie Parrish connected on, but couldn't capitalize. Minutes later, Kayla Brown sliced through the Bobcat defense and fired a rocket from about 25-yards out and hit the cross bar, but a GC defender knocked it out-of-bounds to allow them regroup.
The halftime speech of head coach Jay Entlich must have made its point as the team got on the board quickly. Brown again was able to beat a couple of defenders down the right flank and took a shot that was blocked. The carom made its way into the top of the penalty box area where Lowery one-timed a bending shot to the near left post past an outstretched Mary Rob Plunkett.
CSU kept putting the Bobcat defense under duress and nearly cracked through to seal the game in the 76th minute. Parrish had another close opportunity as her shot went to the far right of the goal, but it dinged the post and cleared away. A minute later, Brown took on the GC defense and served a ball across the box, just out of the reach of a jumping Parrish.
Babillis picked up her fifth straight win and third consecutive shutout improving to 6-0-1 on the year. She made four saves in the contest. Plunkett did her best to keep Georgia College in the game picking up seven saves, several of them of the goal-saving variety. Her record drops to 5-6-1.
Columbus State outshot GC 21-7 in the contest and held a 7-1 edge in corner kicks. Lowery moved up into a tie for fifth on the CSU single-season goals scored and points list, with 13 and 29, respectively. This was their 12th shutout of the season, four behind the all-time mark set in 2008 and 2007.
The Lady Cougars return to the field Wednesday night when they travel to Montevallo to take on the Falcons in a Peach Belt Conference tilt. CSU currently stands in second place in the PBC with 21 points, six points behind Armstrong Atlantic who is 9-1 in the conference. Montevallo is in six place with a 3-4-1 PBC mark and is 5-9-2 overall. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at Varsity Field.
