As she has been countless times in the past, Carrie Patterson was the difference for the No. 18 Georgia soccer team Sunday.

Georgia defeated the Northeastern Huskies 1-0 at the UGA Soccer Stadium to bring home the 2009 Georgia Nike Invitational crown to the host Bulldogs.

The win was their second of the weekend, after the Bulldogs bested Florida Atlantic 3-0 in their first match of the tournament Friday night.

Sunday’s match was a tight one from the get go, with a pesky Northeastern counter attack forcing Georgia goalkeeper Michelle Betos to make a season high six saves to preserve the shutout, her fourth of the season.

The Bulldogs’ 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 several 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.

Friday night’s match was a different story, as the Bulldogs were clearly the better team from the opening whistle. However, the 3-0 scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Bulldogs bombarded the Florida Atlantic keepers with 28 shots and, for just the second time in school history, the Bulldog defense managed to not give up a single shot to the visiting Owls, who made few trips across midfield into Bulldog territory.

“I thought our movement of the ball was really good and, although we may not have banged that many clear-cut goals in, I liked a lot of the things we were doing,” Georgia head coach Patrick Baker said.

After netting two goals in Friday’s match and turning in another strong performance Sunday against Northeastern, midfielder Jamie Pollock took home tournament MVP honors, while goalkeeper Betos and defenders Leslie McConnell and Bailey Powell joined Pollock on the All-tournament team.

The weekend’s victories, and Sunday’s win over Northeastern in particular, were a relief to many Bulldog players and Baker, as the team showed they could rebound from a disappointing showing Aug. 30 against Mercer.

“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 [Mercer] performance, and I think we did a really good job,” said midfielder Lindsay Stein.

The Bulldogs will try and complete an undefeated six-game home stand, as they host Georgia State Friday night at 7.