DAHLONEGA – For the third time in the last four seasons, the No. 10 University of North Georgia (UNG) women's soccer team punched its ticket to the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Tournament Championship with a dominant 6-1 victory over Flagler in the semifinals on Wednesday afternoon.
Across the quarterfinals and semifinals, the Nighthawks (13-3-3, 6-2-1 PBC) have strung together two of their most impressive PBC Tournament showings in recent history. During the 2026 season, North Georgia scored six goals in four matches; two have come in the last five days in tournament action.
After an over hour-long weather delay before kickoff, the Nighthawks got right to work. Less than three minutes in, Nina Lopez sent a pass to Grace McGill from the top-right corner of the box, and McGill rifled in her 11th goal of the season to put UNG on the front foot early.
North Georgia continued to put the pressure on Flagler's defense, as Emma Moreau found herself on the scoring end of a corner kick to double the advantage at the 7:29 mark.
The Nighthawks continued to use set pieces to their advantage in the first half. With just under 13 minutes off the clock, Hannah Montgomery scored the first goal of her collegiate career off another corner opportunity to quickly push the game to 3-0.
UNG kept pouring it on in the first 45 minutes, as Chloe Diaz scored her second goal in as many PBC Tournament games to extend the advantage even further.
Four minutes later, the Saints brought some momentum back on their side with a goal from Brooke Rienecker at the 29-minute mark. The Nighthawks' defense stepped up and limited the damage to the one goal and headed into halftime up 4-1.
Coming out of the locker room, North Georgia took a similar approach to the first half and capitalized on some early windows of opportunity. Less than three minutes into the half, Blanca Cruz made the score 5-1 with her second goal of the tournament off an assist from Lopez.
Continuing to keep their foot on the gas, the Nighthawks struck again for a sixth and final time. After quickly flipping the field at the 49-minute mark, Moreau had an open run towards the goal. Seeing the Saints' goalkeeper off her line, Moreau wisely fired the shot from well beyond the box to bury the goal and clinch the brace.
From then on, North Georgia's backline stood strong and limited the Saints to just one shot in the second half to seal a spot in the championship match. UNG closed out the game with a 14-4 advantage in shots, with 11 on frame for the Nighthawks.
Morea stepped up and led the Nighthawks in the best game of her North Georgia career. The Keller, Texas native slotted in a pair of goals for her first brace at the collegiate level to help send her team on to the championship.
After a pair of standout performances from the Nighthawks in the first two rounds of the conference tournament, North Georgia will match up with No. 6 Columbus State in the PBC Tournament Championship and a nationally-ranked showdown. The top-seeded Cougars have locked up a spot in the championship game with a 2-1 victory over USC Beaufort to open tournament play and a 4-0 shutout against Georgia College in the semifinals.
The Nighthawks will head to the Walden Soccer Complex in Columbus, Ga. to face off against the Cougars on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. in search of their first PBC Tournament title in program history.