HICKORY, N.C. – After earning the program's first NCAA Tournament win on Friday afternoon, the Lander women's soccer team fell 1-0 to No. 3 seed North Georgia on Sunday at the Moretz Athletic Complex in the Second Round.
The 7-seed Bearcats' season comes to an end with a 9-4-5 overall record while UNG's continues as they improved to 13-3-3.
Shots were hard to come by in this game of evenly matched Peach Belt teams and defenses, though the Bearcats did outshoot the Nighthawks 9-8 and 4-2 on goal.
North Georgia broke the scoreless streak near the end of the first half in the 36th minute and took that lead into halftime.
The lone Lander shot on net over the final 45 minutes came off the foot of senior
Alarie Hodge with just under 20 minutes remaining – Hodge scored two goals in the Blue and Gold's 3-2 win over host Lenoir-Rhyne earlier in the weekend.
Lander generated some offense in the closing minutes of the match but was unable to get off a clean shot and push one through.
Sitting alongside seniors
Emma Sexton and
Maren White, head coach
Chris Ayer offered a bit of reflection in a postgame press conference, saying, "I just think the girls proved who they were, and I think that's the fun part – it's been a gritty group all year.
"We've got 11 seniors, and these guys, they're just special. They've led for four years and have really helped us transition our program to where it needs to go, and it's just been a lot of fun to watch them do it."
When asked for her main takeaway from the season, Sexton said, "We made (the) tournament for the first time in my career here, second time in program history, so I feel like that's the main takeaway. I'm just really proud of the team ... we're just such a family and it's just something that the girls can build on in the years to come."
