DAHLONEGA – The No. 24 University of North Georgia women's soccer team returned to the UNG Soccer Field at Lynn Cottrell Park with a vengeance Thursday. In the season opener against UNC Pembroke, the Nighthawks dominated the pace of play and scored a pair of unanswered goals to come away with a 2-1 victory to start the season. 

UNG took the field Thursday afternoon with a flurry of fresh faces sporting a royal blue jersey with North Georgia's new "NG" logo on the upper left lapel. 

10 freshmen and one spring transfer joining a team that was still sporting five all-conference selections and one all-american from a year ago. All of them joining together with the collective mission of building on last year's success. Success that led UNG to its first Peach Belt Conference outright Regular Season Championship in program history. Success that made head coach Kayley Ralton the first female head coach in league history to accomplish such a feat. Success that saw the Nighthawks win more games and advance further in the NCAA Tournament than the program had since 2019.

Plainly put, this group has big shoes to fill. 

While Thursday's season opener started with domination in the time of possession battle and UNG attackers keeping the Braves defenders busy, it didn't start how the Nighthawks had hoped on the scoreboard. 

With significant forward ball pressure early in the match, Pembroke's speedy freshman attacker Shakira Kafero Roberts had a number of chances to break free past the UNG defense. Finally in the 37th minute Kafero Roberts found herself streaking down the middle of the field with the ball on her foot. She sidestepped a defender and slipped the ball past Nighthawk senior goalkeeper and aforementioned all-american Sierra Fowler. 

Suddenly, with just seven minutes remaining in the first half, UNG was backed against the wall and trailing a team it had dominated in the game thus far. 

However, the Nighthawks did not wait long to respond. Still maintaining pressure, junior midfielder Adleigh Wheeler had an impressive shot on net that was just tipped into the crossbar by Pembroke keeper Anna Bass before being cleared for a UNG throw in. 

On the ensuing throw, sophomore midfielder Ashley Sumrell, making her collegiate debut, played the ball along the far goal line and turned to direct back into the center of the box where senior midfielder Darby Olive was waiting. 

Olive rose to receive the ball and ran into a defender but held her ground. She steadied herself, planted, and from point blank range fired the ball into the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1 just a mere minute before halftime. 

In the second half, UNG's control of possession led to even more chances in the attacking zone. 

It was freshman midfielder Nina Lopez who made the most of those chances in the 63rd minute. Receiving the ball from senior defender Cat Watry roughly 25 yards out, Lopez turned towards the middle of the field. She weaved around one defender, slicing between another as she left the first in the dust. From just outside the box, Lopez uncorked a shot of her right foot that sailed over Bass' head into the upper left corner of the net. In her first collegiate game, the freshman gave UNG a 2-1 lead with little more than 27 minutes to play. 

Lopez hails from Edgewood High School in Melbourne, Fla. where she dominated the competition. She scored 34 goals and added 36 assists in four varsity seasons and was named the player of the year four times by three different media outlets between her junior and senior seasons. 

Entering the season, Ralton knew that some of her young players were going to have large roles this season. She even said so in a preseason interview on The Hawks Nest. Lopez's debut was the exact type of performance Ralton was referring to and hoping for. The same can be said for freshman midfielder Alli Treadwell. 

Treadwell, despite preferring the midfield duties when on the field, started at center back Thursday for the Nighthawks. Some injuries limited UNG's lineup in the opener, but Treadwell stepped up when needed. She joined a trio of veterans in Watry, Alexa Aronoff and Mychael Fruits on the back line to keep the Braves at bay for the remainder of the competition. 

When all was said and done, the Nighthawks held off Pembroke and finished with the victory. Despite room for improvement and a few missed opportunities, UNG starts the season off on the right foot; in the win column. 

The Nighthawks will now prepare to head to Gaffney, S.C. for their first road game of the season on Sunday, Sep. 8 as they take on Limestone at 4 p.m.