UNCG Drops Heartbreaker to Georgia, 1-0

by Justin Glover
August 17, 2012
<p class="roster"><strong>GREENSBORO, N.C. &ndash;</strong>&nbsp;After 104 scoreless minutes, Georgia buried a game-winning penalty kick in double overtime to defeat the UNCG women's soccer team, 1-0, in front of a crowd of 1,838 on Friday night at the UGA Soccer Stadium. Freshman goalkeeper Jamie Simmons (Houston, Texas/Clear Brook HS) finished the game with 14 saves in her collegiate debut. &nbsp;<br /> <br /> &ldquo;This is what college soccer is all about,&rdquo; said head coach Steve Nugent. &ldquo;We had a tremendous plan tonight and it was working. It was just unfortunate with the penalty kick but I don&rsquo;t want to take anything away from UGA&rsquo;s performance tonight. We got an unbelievable performance from our freshman keeper Jamie Simmons.&rdquo; <br /> <br /> Just three minutes into the second overtime UGA made a run down the field and crossed a ball inside the box that was inadvertently touched by a Spartan defender to set up a penalty kick for the Bullsdogs. All-SEC performer junior Alexa Newfield wasted no time and scored the golden goal into the lower left corner of the net. <br /> <br /> UNCG was hanging time with the Bulldogs keeping the game scoreless through two halves and overtime.<br /> <br /> In the second half, Simmons came up large on a number of occasions with seven saves. With 14 seconds remaining in the game a ball was crossed inside the box that Georgia freshman Andie Fontanetta header to goal but Simmons made the game-saving stop. <br /> <br /> The Spartans best chance came with two minutes left in the second half as redshirt senior Cat Barnekow (Santa Rosa, Calif./Santa Rosa JC) took a free kick that UNCG could not convert on an open net after the Bulldogs keeper Ashley Baker missed the save. <br /> <br /> The Spartans and Bulldogs played to a scoreless first half after UGA led 8-1 in shots. Simmons was stellar between the pipes making four saves to keep the game tied. <br /> <br /> Sophomore midfielder Ashley Stokes (Cary, N.C.)/Green Hope HS) had the first shot on net in the 17<sup>th</sup> minute for the Spartans.<br /> <br /> Just before the half in the 45<sup>th</sup> minute UGA had another opportunity to break the tie as Susannah Dennis took a shot but Simmons turned away the effort. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /> <br /> The Blue and Gold are now 9-14 in regular season openers. &nbsp;<br /> <br /> UNCG returns to action next Friday, August 24 as it heads to Winston Salem, N.C. to face ACC power Wake Forest at 7 p.m. &nbsp;<br /> <br /> Be sure to follow all updates about the 2012 UNCG women&rsquo;s soccer team on <a href="http://www.uncgspartans.com/">www.uncgspartans.com</a> or on twitter @UNCGsports.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p align="center"><strong>- UNCG -<br /> <br /> </strong></p>
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