DAHLONEGA – The No. 14 University of North Georgia (UNG) women's soccer team scored four second-half goals to pull away for a 6-1 victory over Young Harris on Sunday afternoon at the UNG Soccer Field.
North Georgia (2-0) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Blanca Cruz found the back of the net in the seventh minute, with Grace McGill providing the assist.
Young Harris answered in the 17th minute to even the match, but the Nighthawks regained the lead in the 29th minute when Nina Lopez scored her third goal of the season. Lopez carried the ball through the Young Harris defense before finishing the play to give North Georgia a 2-1 advantage heading into halftime.
The Nighthawks came out firing in the second half, scoring four times in the final 21 minutes.
McGill extended the North Georgia lead to 3-1 in the 70th minute before Angelina Noorbehesht found the back of the net in the 73rd minute off an assist from Chloe Diaz.
Lilyana Hernandez added another goal in the 88th minute, assisted by Cruz, before Cruz capped the scoring just 36 seconds later with her second goal of the afternoon. Noorbehesht assisted on the play.
The Nighthawks dominated the offensive attack, outshooting Young Harris 22-8 and holding a 12-7 advantage in shots on goal.
North Georgia also locked down defensively in the second half after allowing Young Harris to score in the opening half. Goalkeeper Kayleigh Marreel finished with six saves and kept the Mountain Lions off the scoreboard in the second half.
"We challenged them at halftime to make sure we didn't give up any more goals," North Georgia head coach Kayley Ralton said. "It was good to see in the second half that we were able to lock it down and have a clean sheet in the second half."
North Georgia returns to action on the road Wednesday, Sept. 2, at Lee in Cleveland, Tennessee. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.
