DAHLONEGA | Redshirt-sophomore Sophia Matonak scored in the second minute of Saturday evening's regular season finale against USC Aikin and No. 12 North Georgia never looked back, soaring past the Pacers, 9-0. The Nighthawks advance to 14-3-1 on the season with an 8-2-1 mark in conference play.
 
UNG finished the regular season ranked second in the Peach Belt standings, which equals the highest PBC finish when North Georgia claimed second place in 2011.
 
Senior Cicely Taliaferro added a second goal in the 18th minute off a ball from Kassidy Freeman.
 
North Georgia would take a 3-0 lead into the half after Brynn Finneran found the back of the net for the fourth time this season at the 36:59 mark.
 
Freeman got in on the scoring fest in the second half she was fed a perfect through-ball from Matonak and finished it to the bottom right corner.
 
The next three Nighthawk goals were all season first for Phoebe Palmer (58:19), Megan Gil (59:39) and Alex Bowen (81:06), giving UNG a 7-0.
 
Two more goals would be added in the next four minutes with Jessica Dacey scoring her fourth of the year and then Bowen would provide the final flick past the Pacer goalie to give North Georgia the 9-0 lead that proved to be final.
 
Mallory Sayre picked up the shutout for the Nighthawks while collecting three saves on the night. The shutout was the seventh of the season for Sayre and extends her UNG career record to 15 shutouts during her tenure.
 
The Nighthawks will now host No. 7-seed Georgia College in the Peach Belt Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 5 p.m. The winner will advance to face the winner of No. 3 Armstrong-No. 6 Clayton State in the PBC semifinals at Blanchard Wood Park in Evans, Georgia on Friday.