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EVANS, Ga. – Seeking its fourth straight championship, the 10th-ranked Columbus State University women's soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to UNC Pembroke in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship match Sunday. The final was played at Blanchard Woods Park.
Columbus State (15-3-0) will await its NCAA fate, to be announced Monday night at 6 p.m. The Lady Cougars entered the week as the top-ranked team in the Southeast Region.
"Give UNC Pembroke a lot of credit," head coach
Jay Entlich said. "They took advantage of the opportunity they had to score and did a great job of making it difficult for us to find the net."
Columbus State controlled possession throughout, but it was UNC Pembroke (15-4-1) that struck first.
A long shot from UNCP ricocheted off the crossbar and down into the box where CSU got tangled up with an attacker creating a penalty kick for the Braves. Bria Riancho got her hands on the attempt, but the ball tucked inside the post for the 1-0 lead in the 20
th minute.
From there, it was all Columbus State offensively, outshooting the Braves 9-2 over the first 45 minutes. However, none found the net and UNCP took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
The second half was much of the same, with CSU holding possession for the majority of the final 45 minutes. The Lady Cougars fired off 16 more shots in the second half, but the UNCP defense stood tall to capture its first tournament championship.
Columbus State outshot the Braves 25-4 in the loss.
