ORANGEBURG, S.C. – Presbyterian College women's soccer freshman Kristen Peagler (Lithonia, Ga.) scored her first collegiate goal with 2:40 left in regulation to force overtime at South Carolina State in Wednesday night's season opener, but an overtime goal from the Bulldogs handed the Blue Hose a 2-1 loss.
PC opens the season at 0-1-0 and will next head to Furman on Friday night for a 7 p.m. non-conference match. SC State improves to 2-1-0.
With the visiting Blue Hose trailing 1-0 in the 88th minute, Stephanie Allen (West Columbia, S.C.) launched a corner kick in front of the net. The freshman reserve Peagler collected the loose ball from the scramble and tucked a shot away to tie the game at 1-1.
In the 96th minute, SC State's Tori Papp converted a cross from Kaitlynn Cortez to give the home side the victory.
PC outshot the Bulldogs by a count of 14 to 7 and put eight shots on goal to SC State's seven.
The Bulldogs pulled ahead in the 28th minute when Cortez used a pass from Brittany Rodriguez to score her second goal of the season and take an early lead.
Goalkeeper Sydney Fontenot (Austin, Texas) entered the game to start the second half and played the final 50:45, making all five PC saves. Two of Fontenot's stops came in the extra period.
Sophie Cobb (Columbia, S.C.) and Sara Simpson (Columbia, S.C.) matched Peagler with two shots on goal. Hannah Gaither (Statesville, N.C.) and Rebecca Miller (Pauline, S.C.) each tested SC State goalkeeper Haley Austin once as well.
PC's offense began firing early. In the seventh minute, Gaither headed a shot on goal from a Stephanie Allen (West Columbia, S.C.) corner kick minutes before Allen hit the post on a chance of her own. Another corner kick in the early going gave PC another opportunity from a set piece, one of PC's six corner kicks on the night.
Fontenot made three saves in her first 12 minutes of action. PC's attack eventually broke the Bulldogs for the game-tying goal, as Cobb fired her two shots on Austin in a two-minute span before a pair of corner kicks eventually led to Peagler's heroics.
In addition to Peagler, freshmen Emily McCord (Asheville, N.C.), Maddy Clark (Mooresville, N.C.) and Kia Mattison (Greenville, S.C.) all made their collegiate debuts for the Blue Hose.
