As she has been countless times before, Carrie Patterson was the difference for the Georgia Bulldog soccer team Sunday, who defeated a tough Northeastern Husky squad 1-0 at the UGA Soccer Stadium to win the 2009 Georgia Nike Invitational.

Patterson found the back of the net for the first time since scoring a hat-trick in the season opener against Kennesaw State, bringing her season scoring tally to four goals and the Bulldogs to a record of 4-0-1 on the season thus far.

The game was a tight one from start to finish, with the Northeastern counter attack forcing Georgia goalkeeper Michelle Betos to make a season high six saves to preserve the shutout, her fourth on the season.

The Bulldog’s best chances were generated from the right flank, as midfielders Lindsay Stein and Rebekah Perry combined to keep the Husky defense on their heels with a number of quality crosses.

Patterson broke the deadlock in the 55th minute, as Georgia forward Ashley Miller assisted Patterson, crossing the ball from the end line back across the face of the goal to a wide open Patterson, who did what she does best, directing the ball into the left side netting.

“I’m glad that me and Ashley Miller could finally connect. We’ve been working a lot and I think we’re just building more chemistry and so she laid a really nice ball back and made it easy for me to finish,” said Patterson.

The victory was an important one for the Bulldogs, who had hoped to avoid a scenario similar to last weekend, where the squad earned a dominant victory Friday night over nationally ranked Minnesota before squeaking out a disappointing tie in a rain shortened contest with Mercer on Sunday.

“I think we really worked hard this week and we really worked hard Friday night and Saturday preparing for today and we wanted to come out and show everybody that we could build upon last week’s Sunday performance and I think we did a really good job,” said midfielder Lindsay Stein. “We had energy and worked really hard and grinded it out and got a good goal and played smart at the end.”

This weekend’s wins over Florida Atlantic and Northeastern put the Bulldogs in a position to complete an undefeated six-game homestand if they can earn a victory over the visiting Georgia State Panthers next Friday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. at the UGA Soccer Stadium.