ATLANTA, Ga. – Senior Rhea Kijowski scored two goals, the last as she converted a penalty kick with 61 seconds remaining as the Old Dominion women’s soccer team played to a 2-2 draw with Georgia State on Sunday afternoon in Sun Belt Conference East Division action.
“Overall, a pretty frustrating afternoon for us and you could say a game of two halves. We grew into the first half well and after the goal looked quite confident, however the second half we were just too disjointed at times and lost our shape and discipline a little,” said ODU Head Coach Angie Hind.
After giving up a goal with 95 seconds left as Georgia State took a 2-1 lead, the Monarchs pushed the action and drew a handball inside the penalty box with 61 seconds left. Kijowski stepped up and blasted one into the lower left corner to level the match.
Old Dominion (8-4-2, 3-1-2) got on the board first as Kijowski sailed one in from 25 yards away. The Monarchs gained possession at midfield and Laura Klebek found Brooke Edwards who one touched the ball to Kijowski. She let one fly from deep and just sailed over the outstretched arms of Jaddah Foos in net for Georgia State and an early 1-0 lead at 37:10 of the opening half.
Georgia State (1-7-6, 0-2-4) forced tempo in the second half and got a pair of goals. One in the 70th minute as Emily Glenn fed Aaliyah Faddoul for the equalizer and a 1-1 score. Reese Gordon took a cross-field feed from Sunniyah Tucker at 88:25 to go ahead 2-1.
“This team has character and fight in abundance and to pull the goal back to tie with only a few minutes left showed the spirit we have in this group. The composure Rhea showed to put that away under immense pressure was so impressive, she had a fantastic individual weekend,” Hind added.
For the game, ODU outshot Georgia State 15-11 and had an 8-6 advantage in shots on goal. Foos made six saves for Georgia State, while Emily Bredek had two in the first half and Erin Jones had two in the second.
Old Dominion now returns home for their final two home contests of the regular season starting on Friday night hosting Sun Belt Conference West Division leading Texas State at 7 p.m. for Senior Night.