EVANS, GA – Flagler scored four second-half goals as they erased an early 2-1 deficit to beat the Columbus State Cougars 5-3 in the Peach Belt Conference women’s soccer tournament championship game on Sunday at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans. Flagler wins their third consecutive PBC tournament title, tied for the longest winning streak in PBC history.

The Saints wasted little time in getting on the board, scoring the first goal of the game 5:46 after kickoff as Chloe Byrne headed home a pass from Andrea Fernandez for a 1-0 lead.

Columbus State, the top seed in the tournament and ranked #7 in the nation, responded with a goal six minutes later. Lauren Barnes carried the ball into the right side of the box and threaded a pass across the goal to Maddy Peterson, who touched it home.

CSU took the lead at the 22:11 mark in the first half as Vanessa Aviles put home a corner kick from Emma Beddow. The score remained 2-1 at the half with CSU holding a 6-5 edge in shots and an 8-2 edge in corner kicks.

Flagler answered the bell to start the second half, scoring two goals in less than a minute to re-take the lead. Sara Carr started the rally as she put home a corner kick from Fernandez at the 51:11 mark. 54 seconds later, Liz Hall was the beneficiary of a CSU defensive turnover and found Moa Alrebo at the left post for a 3-2 lead.

The two teams battled for the next 10 minutes before Flagler struck again with Annie Habeeb on an assist from Emery Biggs.

With time winding down, CSU had to press and left themselves vulnerable to a counter attack. As the Cougars surged forward, Fernandez freed the ball and sent a long pass from the midfield to a streaking Josefine Nielsen, who took a point-blank shot at CSU keeper Sara Halilhodzic. Halilhodzic made the save, but the ball bounced right back to Nielsen, who put it home for a 5-2 lead.

CSU trimmed the deficit to 5-3 in the 82^nd minute as Beddow found the upper 90 from a steep angle along the end line, The Cougars continued to press for the remaining eight minutes, but were unable to get any closer.

Notes

• The five goals scored by Flagler is tied for the most in a PBC Championship game. Armstrong State defeated Montevallo 5-2 in 2009

• The eight combined goals in the most ever in the PBC Championship game

• Flagler becomes the first #3 seed to win the PBC Tournament since the University of North Florida in 2004

• Columbus State was making their 14^th appearance in the PBC Final – most all-time – and moved to 8-6 in those games

• Flagler claims the PBC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. CSU is all but assured of a spot in the field, they entered this week ranked #1 in the southeast region. The NCAA field will be announced on Monday at 6pm live at ncaa.com

All-Tournament Team

Laura Duran Blanco, Georgia Southwestern
Isabel Massa, Clayton State
Tasha Kwatowski, USC Aiken
Alexis Bergamini, Georgia College
Sierra Fowler, North Georgia
Kaleigh Kileen, North Georgia
Annika Seifart, Lander
Kara Yandle, Lander
Brooke Ouimette, Columbus State
Lauren Barnes, Columbus State
Maddy Peterson, Columbus State
Moa Arlebo, Flagler
Lauren Lannan, Flagler
Annie Habeeb, Flagler

Tournament Most Valuable Player
Andrea Fernandez, Flagler