CHARLESTON, S.C. - Toni Lashley found the back of the net for the second time this season and nearly found Allison Lewis for the game-winner in the closing minutes of regulation, but a huge save by Georgia Southern keeper Katie Merson kept the teams even as CSU and the Eagles settled for the 1-1 tie this afternoon at Buccaneer Field.

Lashley, who has scored in back-to-back games after scoring her first goal of the 2012 season this past weekend against Francis Marion, evened the score for the Lady Bucs (2-3-1) as the junior forward collected the long pass off the foot of goalkeeper Caitlin Cody. Lashley lifted the ball from the right corner of the box, past the charging GSU (4-1-3) keeper and curved it under the crossbar and into the net to even the score at the 25:42 mark.

"Georgia Southern is definitely a team on the rise and they've had a lot of success already this season," commented head coach Eric Terrill on the game. "The way we played today was a huge difference from this past weekend against Francis Marion and we had several huge performances on the field. We still want to generate more attacking attempts, but (Caitlin) Cody came up with a huge save in this back-and-forth game and had a good performance in the net."

Lashley also provided the fireworks late as Charleston Southern almost pulled of the late win, collecting a perfect through ball in the left corner and threaded a pass to Lewis in front of the net with a one-on-one opportunity against Merson. However, Merson was able to get a full-body on Lewis' shot attempt, denying the go-ahead goal to send the teams into overtime.

Georgia Southern was able to take the early lead less than 10 minutes into the contest on the first corner kick of the match as Nora El-Shami lofted a ball into the box for the Eagles. The ball was deflected several times as CSU attempted to clear the ball and landed at the feet of Emily Hirano. She pounced and laced a ball through the defense and into the back of the net at the 9:59 mark for the first score of the contest.

The Eagles threatened several times to score the golden goal as Georgia Southern launched four shots at the net, and nearly put the game away on Alex Murphy's attempt from the top of the box. Her shot at the 93:48 mark sailed toward the top of the net, but Cody was able to get a hand on the ball, lifting it up and over the crossbar to keep the score knotted up at 1 apiece.

In the second overtime, El-Shami challenged the CSU defense twice, with both her shots collected by Cody, before the Buccaneers took control late in the period. The Lady Bucs held control on the GSU side of the field for a majority of the final five minutes of the match, but were unable to get a clean look at goal as the teams settled for the 1-1 tie.

For the contest, Georgia Southern outshot the Buccaneers 23-7 from the field, but Cody kept the Buccaneers in the game, recording a season-high 14 saves in the match in the tie, in addition to recording her first collegiate assist.

"I think we're just going to go out there and play on Monday," said Terrill about the upcoming match against The Citadel. "It's still a work in progress, but we're not going to worry about things and hope we've worked out most of the kinks already with the rotation we have going right now."

Charleston Southern remains home as the Buccaneers welcome The Citadel Bulldogs to Buccaneer Field on Monday, September 17th. The game will be a full 90-minute match after the two teams were forced to reschedule following their lightning-delayed match on August 17th. Kickoff between the two teams is set for 3 p.m.