GSU Men’s Soccer Stumbles Against No. 16 Wake Forest, 3-1

// BOX SCORE // UPDATED STATS (9-18-12) // 

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Georgia Southern Men’s Soccer came up short on Tuesday evening against No. 16 Wake Forest, falling 3-1 to the Demon Deacons. Drew Ruggles cashed in a free kick in the 41st minute to cut the Wake Forest lead to 2-1 late in the opening half after the Eagles pressed forward in the first five minutes of the match.

“Wake Forest is a very good team,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy. “They caused us a lot of problems going forward as well as in containing them. With that being said, I feel like we made some mental errors to give the goals away, but we battled our way back in it late in the first half. It was really difficult to give up a goal in the first five minutes of the second half. We’ve got to work on getting the maturity to not concede a goal at that point in the match and stay in the contest.”

Georgia Southern took the game to Wake Forest in the first five minutes, earning the early scoring chances by passing the ball well inside the attacking third.

Following the Eagles’ early chances, Wake got on the scoreboard in the 12th minute as the Deacons scored on a free kick from the area wide of the penalty area. GSU successfully defended a pair of early corner kicks, but Wake Forest’s free kick from the flank found the head of Jalen Robinson for his second goal of the season.

Eight minutes later, Wake Forest scored its second goal of the night with an attack through the center of the Eagle defense. A through ball by Jared Watts to Michael Gamble found the freshman near the penalty spot between the Eagle central defenders. The shot to the far post beat the keeper for a 2-0 Wake Forest advantage.

With the halftime interval on the horizon, Georgia Southern scored its first goal in more than two matches with a free kick goal from Drew Ruggles. The junior from Manassas, Va. curled his shot around the wall from 25 yards in the 41st minute to cut the Wake Forest advantage to 2-1

Wake Forest went 3-1 up in the 49th minute when Luca Gimenez scored his first goal of the season off assists by Collin Martin and Michael Gamble. The ball was knocked around the top of the box before Giminez took the shot from 18 yards past the goalkeeper.

GSU goalkeeper Jack Falle tallied four saves overall after withstanding a barrage of seven second half shots to keep the line at 3-1 through the final whistle. With the loss, Georgia Southern falls to 2-5-0 on the year while Wake Forest improves to 4-1-2 with a pair of draws in ACC play.

Georgia Southern travels on Saturday for a match at Jacksonville. Kickoff for the contest is set for 7 p.m.

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Category: Men's Soccer

Published on Tuesday, 18 September 2012 21:35