Men’s Soccer Drops Home Opener, 4-3, to UNF

// BOX SCORE // UPDATED STATS (9-8-12) //

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Men’s Soccer scored twice in the final seven minutes, but it wasn’t enough as North Florida bested the Eagles, 4-3. GSU falls to 2-2 on the year as the Ospreys improve to 3-2 for 2012.

“We did a ton of things great today,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy. “We broke them down, got in behind their defense and had plenty of chances to score, but it wasn’t enough. You can’t have defensive miscues like that and not finish your chances.”

The start of the match was pushed back by 55 minutes due to a thunderstorm. The contest kicked off with light rain falling as the sun tried to poke through the clouds.

Just 10 minutes into the afternoon, North Florida thought it had scored the game’s first goal with a poke past the GSU keeper, but the linesman’s flag disallowed the goal and kept the score tied 0-0.

Joe Hughes opened the scoring in the 14th minute from long distance. Nick Lane slotted the ball to Hughes in space about 25 yards from goal. Hughes ripped a shot that got past a diving keeper for a 1-0 advantage for Southern.

The Eagles held the lead for seven minutes before UNF tied the match in the 22nd minute when Maurici Valderruten scored from close range on a ball that was passed around the penalty area.

UNF’s Alex Morrell gave the visitors the lead in the 41st minute on a shot from 25 yards out. The Ospreys went 3-1 up in the 74th minute with a breakaway goal from Max McDaniel.

The Eagles opened a manic finish when Hughes scored his second goal of the afternoon in the 83rd minute. Hughes took advantage of a UNF mistake on the back-line, winning the ball at the top of the box and taking a quick shot which found the net.

Georgia Southern continued to press forward looking for the equalizer, but that would allow UNF to take a 4-2 lead as Oscar Castillo played the ball to Camilo Garcia who scored the goal in the 87th minute from short range.

Southern cut the lead to 4-3 in the 88th minute when Reed Norton recorded his third goal of the season. Norton won the ball off a defender deep in the UNF penalty area and scored on a shot from near the penalty spot.

GSU was unable to find the equalizer in the final two minutes, finishing the match with 28 total shots to North Florida’s 14.

The Eagles are back in action on Monday afternoon against Mercer at Eagle Field. The afternoon tilt begins at 4 p.m. with live video of the match available for free on GSEagles.com.

Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.

Category: Men's Soccer

Published on Saturday, 08 September 2012 19:51