The Oglethorpe women's soccer team played a hard-fought, competitive game with Birmingham-Southern at the Oglethorpe Track and Field Friday evening, but fell 2-0 in the end. The result drops the team to 1-7 overall and 0-3 in SAA play.

The Stormy Petrels were competitive throughout the contest but the visiting Panthers did lead all evening long in the shot department. They had a 7-2 shot advantage in a tight first half, but both teams had plenty of possession. Birmingham-Southern pulled ahead, though, in the 30th minute. The Petrels suffered an unfortunate deflection in their half of the field which landed directly in the path of the Panthers' Sammy Manzo. She put the ball past senior Oglethorpe goalkeeper Sarah Craig and gave her team a 1-0 lead.

The Petrels continued to get possession in the second half, but the Panthers took more shots, as well. The visitors fired 16 shots over the course of the second period and won five corner kicks. The Petrels hung in there throughout the half, though, firing three shots of their own. Senior midfielder Claire Stauber was close on a long-range blast in the 72nd minute that would have tied the game, but the ball sailed just over the crossbar. Senior goalkeeper Bailey Evans made several key saves to keep her team in it, as well, stopping six shots over the course of the second half. The Panthers closed the game out in the 85th minute, though, as Felicity Barnett put a well-placed shot past Evans to give the visitors a two-goal lead which they would not relinquish.

Both Craig and Evans performed well in their respective 45 minutes of play. Craig stopped three Birmingham-Southern shots in the first half and, added to Evans' six saves and a defensive clear off the line, the Petrels came away with seven saves in all. Stauber fired four of the team's five total shots and put one on goal. Birmingham-Southern outshot the Petrels 23-5 for the game and took six corner kicks to the Petrels' none. The game was a bit chippy at times, with senior Hannah Kuhn, sophomore Caitlin Tabilog and freshman Lauren Bacque all receiving yellow cards for the Petrels. Oglethorpe committed 14 fouls to the Panthers' nine over the course of the game.

"Overall, I thought we played well," said Head Coach Alan Woods. "We started strong tonight and were in the game from the outset. The two goals we gave up were on a bad deflection and on a great piece of skill by one of their players, so you can't really fault the defensive effort there. I think if we bring this kind of effort again on Sunday, we'll have an excellent chance to win that game."

The Petrels will take on Millsaps on Salamone Field Sunday at noon. After that, they'll step out of conference to go against Judson (Alabama) on Tuesday before heading out to play Rhodes and Hendrix on the road next weekend.