Oct. 25, 2000

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Georgia State's Lyndy Croft headed in a corner kick from Chandra Yorgason in the 54th minute to supply the only scoring of the night as Georgia State clinched a Trans America Athletic Conference Tournament berth with a 1-0 victory at Samford Wednesday night.

Both teams entered the night in a three-way tie for fifth-place in the TAAC. The win gives Georgia State (7-9-2, 4-4-1 TAAC) fifth place and knocks Samford (8-8-1, 3-5-1 TAAC) into a tie for the sixth and final tournament position. However, Samford will lose the tiebreaker with Stetson because of goal-differential.

"It is disappointing to end the season like this," said Samford head coach Barry Spitzer. "We had a good season and the girls played hard tonight. The breaks just did not go our way in conference play."

Samford had a shot to get on the scoreboard in the first minute of play as Jackie Foster rocketed a shot just wide of goal. In the 30th minute, Graham Holt appeared to have scored as she beat Georgia State's goal keeper Jennifer Espinal with a shot, but a GSU defender just cleared the ball off the goal line to keep the match scoreless. In the 74th minute, Hayley Kolb took a shot inside the box that was saved by Espinal but the rebound went to Foster who again shot the ball wide.

Georgia State had a couple of good scoring chances in the first half as the Panthers dominated the run of play in the opening period. Ashley Edwards sent a chance over the cross bar in the 4th minute and Aja Picou missed the far post by a matter of inches in the 40th minute.

The final ten minutes of the match was a frantic scramble as Samford held possession and tried to score a tying goal to extend its season. The Bulldogs had three corner kicks in the closing minutes but could not put anything in the net.

Georgia State out shot Samford 18-10 and had one more corner kick (6-5) than the Bulldogs.

The match was the final match of the season for Samford's eight seniors who were a part of the inaugural season of Samford Soccer in 1997. The eight seniors finish with an overall record of 30-35-6.