Region Champions! Highlanders Win Over South Georgia State
No. 3 seed Gordon State Soccer hit the road to take on top seed South Georgia State in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association / NJCAA Region 17 championship here Wednesday afternoon and came away with a hard-earned 2-1 victory.
The conference final served as a showdown between teams that split their season series with each team winning on the road -- SGSC with the 2-1 win at GSC on April 17 while GSC returned the favor on May 2 with a 2-0 triumph.
The tense affair saw few quality chances on goal in the early minutes, but things changed quickly in the 33rd minute when the Hawks opened the scoring with a goal by Lissette Sanchez to make it 1-0 SGSC.
The Highlanders were quick to respond when less than 60 seconds later freshman Sophia Kotopka (Riverview, Fla. / East Bay HS) slipped the ball to sophomore Gabriella Arellano (Miami, Fla. / John A. Ferguson Sr. HS), who fired a shot that ricocheted off a Hawks defender into the goal and level the score at 1-1.
Kotopka and Arellano played the roles of the dynamic duo just before halftime in the 44th minute as they teamed up again for what proved to ultimately be the game-winning goal.
Becca Doyle (Acworth, Ga. / Harrison HS) was solid in goal for GSC (8-3-0) and worked well with her defense to shut out SGSC for the final 45 minutes as the Highlander clinched their third consecutive GCAA championship.
SGSC's season concludes at 7-3-1.
GSC will represent NJCAA Region 17 when the Highlanders host the Region 8 champions, Eastern Florida State College, Saturday May 22 at 11 a.m. ET in the NJCAA South Atlantic District Final.
EFSC comes into Saturday's match with a record of 8-0-1.