PEMBROKE – Lightning struck once again for the UNC Pembroke soccer team in the season's final game at Lumbee River EMC Stadium, this time in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) quarterfinals, as freshman Alexis Pittman uncorked her fifth game-winning goal of the season in the 80th-minute to send the Braves past visiting Georgia College 1-0 and into the league semifinals for the second-straight season and sixth time in program history.

MATCH INFORMATION
Score: UNC Pembroke 1, Georgia College 0
Records: UNC Pembroke (13-4-1); Georgia College (11-6-0)
Location: Lumbee River EMC Stadium
Series: UNC Pembroke leads 9-6-2

HOW IT HAPPENED
Box Score/Play-by-Play

FIRST HALF
-The Braves fired four shots in the first 14 minutes, but none of the four tested Georgia College keeper Ashlee Graham.
-UNCP's Gina Ryan made the first save of the night in the 23rd-minute on a Sofia Lekus shot from just outside the 18-yard box.
-The home side's best scoring chance in the opening stanza presented itself in the 40th-minute when four different Braves unleashed five total shots, four from in the box, in a 26-second span.
-Graham was forced to make four saves in the first half, while the Black & Gold attempted 15 total shots to the Bobcats' four.

SECOND HALF
-Georgia College found its footing early in the second half and took three shots in the first eight minutes coming out of the break.
-The momentum swung back in favor of the Braves beginning in the 56th-minute when a corner kick started a run that saw UNCP take 14 of the next 15 shots and eight corner kicks in the next 27 minutes.
-In the middle of the Black & Gold dominance, Pittman took a cross from Kristina Stevenson that was flicked along by Carly Rochelle and beat Graham in the lower right in the 80th-minute to put the Braves up 1-0.
-The Bobcats came mere inches from the equalizer in the 86th-minute, but Gina Ryan leaped and pushed an Amanda Bartholomew strike over the crossbar to preserve the UNCP advantage.

NOTABLES
-Pittman's goal was her team-leading eighth of the season. She is one of only three players in the PBC to net at least five-game winning goals this season.
-Stevenson picked up her fourth assist of the season and first point in the last four matches, while Rochelle's assist was her fifth of the season to tie her for the team lead.
-Gina Ryan's shutout on two saves was her ninth of the season and 16th of her career, as the sophomore continues to lead the league in shutouts, goals against average (0.57) and save percentage (.877).
-Stacey Scott and Kate Weisner each took a team-high seven shots in the victory, while Pittman and Stevenson each tacked on five shots.
-The Braves outshot Georgia College by a 29-10 margin, including an 8-2 edge in shots on goal. UNCP took nine corner kicks, eight of which came in the second half.
-Bartholomew, the league's golden-ball winner (19 goals), was responsible for eight of the Bobcat's 10 shots, while the netminder Graham made seven saves in goal.

UP NEXT
The Braves will turn their attention to a league semifinal bout with North Georgia for the second-straight season. The No. 1-seed Nighthawks dismantled No. 8-seed USC Aiken 9-0 in Tuesday night quarterfinal action. Friday's semifinal will be played at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Georgia. First touch is set for 11 a.m. North Georgia erased a 1-0 UNCP lead in the final 18 minutes and stole a 2-1 affair earlier this season in Dahlonega and won last season's semifinal meeting by a 4-0 score. The Nighthawks hold a 6-5-3 advantage in the series, but the last Braves' victory came in 2012. North Georgia was ranked fifth in the most recent NCAA Division II regional poll, while the Black & Gold was slotted seventh.