FOLEY, Ala. – Georgia Southern's Maya Zovko sent the fifth penalty kick attempt into the upper left corner of the net, deflecting off the fingertips of ULM goalkeeper Alexa Castro, as the third-seeded Eagles advanced to the Sun Belt Conference Championship semifinals, 4-3 on penalty kicks after playing to a 1-1 draw in two overtimes, on Wednesday afternoon at the Foley Sports Complex.
 
The heartbreaking result for ULM ends the Warhawk season with a record of 9-2-8, after going 4-1-5 in Sun Belt Conference play. Georgia Southern moves to 12-5-1 overall after finishing 7-3 in SBC action.
 
Playing with temperatures in the low 50s at kickoff and a stiff north wind blowing left to right across the field at 10 to 20 miles per hour and gusting closer to 25 m.p.h. throughout the match, the team attacking the south end had the advantage for much of the day, with each team scoring their only goals at the south end, and the PK shootout coming at the south end.
 
ULM struck first in the 13th minute. Off a corner kick, the Warhawks' Libby Holmes kept the ball alive on the right side of the box, lobbing a pass across the box to Emelie Kobler, who headed the ball toward the net. Georgia Southern goalkeeper Quinn Wilson reached up to make the save, but the rebound came right back to Inge Konst, who headed the ball into the right side of the net for the 1-0 advantage. It was the 10th goal of the season for Konst, becoming the sixth Warhawk all time, and the fourth since the 2020-21 season, to score 10 goals in a single season. It was her 21st career goal, moving her into second place on the ULM career goals list, one behind Cindy Barker (22, 2000-03), and gave her 55 career points, good for second all-time, one behind Karlea Fehr (56, 2012-15).
 
ULM and Georgia Southern played a tight match for much of the day, with ULM goalkeeper Mickaela Leal making two saves in the first half to keep the lead. The Warhawks had a scoring opportunity in the 40th minute, but Wilson came up to challenge Eve Blakey's attack on the left side of the box and knocked the ball away in the 41st minute. The Warhawks remained in front, 1-0, at halftime.
 
Georgia Southern had the wind at its back in the second half, but ULM remained on the attack. Skylar Blaise's shot was stopped by Wilson in the 70th minute.
 
The Eagles leveled the match in the 81st minute. Bri Conley made her way toward the top left of the box and Leal came out to challenge. Conley navigated the ball past Leal and slowly into the net to pick up the equalizer, 1-1, sending the match to overtime.
 
The Warhawks had a pair of chances in the first overtime, with Lena Goppel and Mara Grutkamp each picking up a shot on goal, but Wilson made two more saves.
 
In the second overtime, Georgia Southern had a near immediate opportunity, but Simone Timm's shot was stopped by Leal. Blaise had a chance in the 106th minute, but Wilson made another save. Blakey had an opportunity off the rebound in front of the net, but her attempt sailed high. The match officially became a draw after two overtime periods and went to penalty kicks to determine which team would advance to the semifinals.
 
ULM had the first attempt in each round of the shootout. Konst had her attempt stopped by Georgia Southern's Michaela Mikko, but the Eagles took the lead on Elis Nemtsov's goal. The Warhawks leveled the PKs in the second round as Libby Holmes converted and Conley's attempt was stopped by ULM's Alexa Castro. It stayed level in the third round as both ULM's Goppel and Georgia Southern's Isabel Kopp converted their attempts. The Eagles went back ahead in the fourth round, as Kobler's shot was stopped and Ansleigh Crenshaw converted for Georgia Southern. ULM's Eve Blakey converted her do-or-die shot in the fifth round before Zovko buried the winner for the Eagles.
 
The result closes out the careers of several Warhawks, with Castro, Konst, Lucia Lobato and Santana Pressley exhausting eligibility, while Goppel, Leal, Samantha Maudsley and Janet Stopka each have at least one year of eligibility remaining, but the group was also honored at Senior Night festivities prior to the Old Dominion match last Thursday.
 
Goppel, Leal and Stopka have been with the program since the COVID-19 split season of 2020-21, bringing ULM its best four-year stretch of soccer in nearly two decades. The stretch from 2020-21 to 2023 brought 32 wins for ULM, ranking as the fifth-best four-year stretch in program history, behind 2001-04 and 2002-05 (38 wins), 2003-06 (37 wins) and 2004-07 (34 wins).
 
The 2023 squad finishes with the best goals against average in program history (0.94). The team also finished tied for third with nine wins, fourth with 32 assists and fifth with 102 points (35 goals, 32 assists).
 
Individually, Konst and Stopka finish their careers as two of the best players to ever put on a kit for ULM.
 
Konst set the program record with nine penalty kicks made in her career, with six of them coming this season. Her single-season mark was good enough on its own to break the previous career record. In playing just three seasons at ULM, she finishes second all-time in points (55, 21 goals, 13 assists) and goals (21), fifth in shots (133), sixth in assists (13) and tied for seventh in game-winning goals (4). In just the 2023 season, in addition to her penalty kicks made record, she finishes tied for third in goals (10) and game-winning goals (3), fourth in points (25, 10 goals, 5 assists), tied for eighth in assists (5) and tied for ninth in shots (56). Konst had two multi-goal games, including one of ULM's nine all-time hat tricks, against Texas A&M-Commerce on Aug. 21, 2022.
 
Stopka, who set the single-season goals record as a true freshman in 2020-21 with 10, only to have it topped twice by teammates Courtney Marten (14, 2021) and Theoni Zerva (11, 2021), finished with 20 goals in her injury-shortened career, which is third-most in ULM history. After playing in 16 matches in her freshman season, she played in just 21 matches due to injury over the next three seasons combined. She had six multi-goal games in her career, including one of ULM's nine all-time hat tricks, against UT Tyler on Feb. 3, 2021. She set the career record with six game-winning goals, and finished third in goals (20) and fifth in points (44, 20 goals, 4 assists). This season, she finished tied for eighth in a single season in ULM history with two game-winning goals.
 
Among other players who are unable to return for ULM, Castro finishes fourth in a single season with a 1.20 goals against average in 2023.
 
For players who have an opportunity to return, Mara Grutkamp and Mickaela Leal have also made a mark on the record book.
 
Grutkamp, who has one season of eligibility remaining, sits second all-time at ULM in assists (18), fourth in shots (150), sixth in points (42, 12 goals, 18 assists) and tied for seventh in game-winning goals (4). This season, she finishes third in a single season in assists (7), tied for third in shots (69), tied for seventh in shots on goal (30) and tied for eighth in game-winning goals (2).
 
Leal, who has one season of eligibility remaining but went through Senior Night festivities, is ranked first all-time in goals against average (1.04), third in wins (17) and ninth in saves (101). This season, her 0.77 goals against average ranks second best in a single season.