By WRBL Staff
CSU Sports Information
Columbus, GA - Columbus State faced a familiar foe on Friday night as defending national champion Tampa came calling for the fourth annual Cougar Invitational. CSU didn't disappoint 322 fans in attendance as goals from Gina Goforth and local product Melinda Bush gave the Lady Cougars a win over sixth-ranked Tampa 2-0 at the Walden Soccer Complex. CSU Sports Information
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Stumble It!Its the first time CSU has beaten Tampa in the short history of the program and the team got some revenge against the Spartans, who knocked off the Lady Cougars in penalty kicks last season in the NCAA Quarterfinals. In the two earlier contests, Florida Tech blanked Clayton State 2-0 and Georgia College & State beat Tusculum 2-1 in a well played soccer contest.
"It's a nice win against a real quality opponent, but in the big scheme of things, it's just another game," said CSU head coach Jay Entlich. "We'll celebrate tonight, but we can't get complacent because we've a Florida Tech team on Sunday that is really good too."
CSU got on board in the 12th minute of play as Gina Goforth got a carom off the left post from her own shot, and hammered a shot past Tampa goalkeeper Kendall Bourdon for the game's first goal.
The two teams went scoreless for the rest of the half as Tampa held an 8-6 shot advantage at halftime.
The second half proved to be a stalemate until sophomore foward Melinda Bush worked her magic for the Lady Cougars. Bush took a nice crossing pass from Stephanie Parrish and beat Bourdon in the upper right hand corner of the net for her first collegiate goal in the 78th minute.
The CSU defense took over and earned its second shutout in three games this season. CSU goalkeeper Monica Sanchez collected six saves on the night.
Tampa out-shot CSU 16-10 and held a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.
The Cougar Invitational resumes on Sunday as Tusculum and Tampa square off at 11 AM, followed by CSU and Florida Tech at 1:30 PM.
