UNCG Takes 2-0 Win over Men?s Soccer

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Georgia Southern men’s soccer team fell to defending Southern Conference champion UNC Greensboro, 2-0, Friday night (Oct. 26) at a rain-soaked UNCG Stadium.

The Eagles fall to 6-9-0 overall and 2-4-0 in conference action, while UNCG improves to 7-7-2 overall and 3-3-0 in league play.

Rains from the past three days in the Greensboro region made playing conditions a challenge for both teams.  UNCG quickly came out on the attack and Spartan Nirav Kadam got the host team up on the scoreboard in the seventh minute to notch an early lead.

The Eagles struggled to get good looks on goal in the first half while the rains continued to pour down on the field.

In the 23rd minute, UNCGs Travis Young one-touched a shot 15 yards out after rebounding a crossed pass to put the Spartans up 2-0.

Sophomore Brennan Peacock (Carrollton, Texas) produced one of the team’s best opportunities in the first half shooting a bullet from 25 yards outside, but the ball went wide right.

Another opportunity for the Eagles came in the 38th minute when Julian Donaldson (Aurora, Colo.) collected a loose ball 20 yards outside the box and fired a shot that went high.

Going into the locker room, the Spartans held a commanding lead in shots (15-3) while the Eagles held a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks.

“All the credit to UNCG because they were able to adapt to the conditions sooner,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy.  “They came out and were more mentally prepared to play in these types of conditions.  But in the second half we said: ‘let’s just try to drop it in and get them behind and run them a little bit.’  I think we were effective and played well in the second half “

The Eagles increased their offensive attack in the second half adding seven more shots.  In the 23rd minute BJ Reine (Baton Rouge, La.) chipped a short pass in the air to Luigi Clendening (Augusta, Ga.) ready to strike in the corner of the box.  Clendening put the ball on the ground and fired a shot off, but it went wide.

In then 86th minute Mark Beville redirected a lob pass into the box off his head from teammate Danny Hall (Conyers, Ga.), but Spartans goalkeeper Chad Janda made the diving save to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard.

UNCG led the shots tally 26-10, while the corner kick tally was tied 6-6.

Goalkeeper Joey Ralph (Martinez, Ga.) made seven saves on the day while Spartan keeper Janda stopped four GSU shots.

The Eagles will return home to Eagle Field, Tuesday (Oct. 30) to complete the conference schedule against College of Charleston.  The game is slated for 5 p.m.

Category: Men's Soccer

Published on Friday, 26 October 2007 00:11