The Oglethorpe women's soccer team fought back from a 2-0 deficit at halftime and a 3-1 deficit well into the second half Sunday afternoon at Salamone Field, tying the score 4-4 late on against Salem. However, as the Petrels went forward in search of the game-winner, a late counter-attack did them in, and the visitors prevailed, 5-4.

The Stormy Petrels fell behind 2-0 in the first half, conceding goals to the visiting Spirit in the 21st and 29th minutes. However, the second half was a different story entirely. The Petrels got the stanza off to a good start when sophomore forward Beatrice Menjor took advantage of a Salem mistake in their own penalty box to poke the ball past the Spirit goalkeeper for her first tally of the season in the 56th minute. The Menjor goal gave cut the Salem lead in half. However, Salem built the two-goal lead right back with another tally in the 61st minute of play. 

The Petrels struck back, though, with a goal that began a frantic five minutes of play. Junior midfielder Claire Stauber scored on a bomb of a free kick in the 69th minute to pull the Petrels back to within one, 3-2. The goal was her fourth of the year. She was followed in the 72nd minute by freshman Bishop Weaver, who scored her first career goal off of another long free kick to tie the score, 3-3. However, Salem quickly struck back to re-take the lead in the 74th minute.

After a brief respite, another frantic stretch ended the game. In the 86th minute, Menjor got a free kick to the right of goal and fired a perfect looping shot past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to tie the score again, 4-4. However, as the Petrels pushed for the game-winning goal, the Spirit got a breakaway in the 89th minute and finished it, picking up a game-winner of their own.

The Petrels outscored Salem 4-3 in the second period despite being outshot 13-8. For the game, the Spirit outshot the Petrels, 21-12, including 13-7 in shots on goal. Salem also took three corner kicks to Oglethorpe's two. 

Junior goalkeepers Sarah Craig and Bailey Evans split the duties, each picking up four saves. Menjor's two goals came on her only two shots of the game. Stauber fired three shots, putting two on goal and scoring one.

The Petrels, who drop to 3-5 on the season, will next be in action on Saturday when they travel to Mount Berry, Ga., to start SAA play. They'll take on Berry at 3 p.m. before coming back home the following weekend to take on Sewanee.