EVANS, Ga. – In a battle of two evenly matched teams, it would come down to one fortuitous shot as Clayton State (12-8, 6-5 PBC) dropped a narrow 2-1 decision to No. 16 North Georgia (16-3-1, 8-2-1 PBC) in an NCAA Division II women's soccer game and Peach Belt Tournament semifinal on Friday, November 7.

After a scoreless first half in which UNG far outshot the Lakers, the teams would pick up where they left off for the final 45 minutes. The Nighthawks played up in the offensive zone and Mollie Arrendale fired off a shot at 50:35 that was blocked away by junior goalkeeper Charlotte McCormack (Wexford, England). However, the ball rebounded right back to her where she quickly found Rachel VanHorn for the go ahead goal just nine seconds later.

That one anomaly would be all that showed on the scoreboard for much of the remainder of the second half as Clayton State's defense returned to form. That stand would be broken at 82:05 as Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year Cicely Taliaferro converted off a pass from Brynn Finneran to make it 2-0.

Facing a two goal deficit, the Lakers did anything but fold in on themselves, quite the opposite as they stepped up their offensive efforts. That push resulted in a foul in the box with five minutes to play, an opportunity that junior defender Lucy Cunningham (Liverpool, England) took full advantage of as she drove home a penalty kick to cut it to 2-1.

Cunningham led Clayton State with that one goal and McCormack played all 90 minutes, recording six saves in defeat. For North Georgia, VanHorn and Taliaferro registered the goals with Arrendale and Finneran notching an assist apiece. Mallory Sayre played the entire game in goal as she made six saves en rout to picking up the victory.

With the loss, the Lakers now must wait and see if their body of work will be good enough for an at-large selection to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The selection show will air the evening of Monday, November 10 on www.NCAA.com.