Men?s Soccer Holds On to Beat North Florida
9/19/2007 4:01:00 AM | Men's Soccer
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Georgia Southern's Daniel Smith scored the gamewinner in the 55th minute to help propel the Eagles to a 1-0 shutout victory over North Florida, Wednesday afternoon, at Eagle Field, extending the win streak to two matches.
After returning from a scoreless first half, Smith (Marietta, Ga.) found teammate Scott DeVault (Woodstock, Ga.) sprinting up the right side of the field. DeVault played the give-and-go back to a flashing Smith up the center who beat the defense and tapped in the game's lone goal.
With the win, Georgia Southern improves to 3-4-0 overall, while North Florida falls to 1-4-0.
The Ospreys came out attacking strong in the first half, unloading nine shots, compared to Georgia Southern's five first-half strikes.
Senior goalkeeper Brian Young (Roswell, Ga.), who has started in the cage the past two games, made three saves in the first stanza, including a key save in the 33rd minute, stopping a penalty kick by UNF's Martin Schuhte.
“Obviously saving a penalty kick in the first half is a huge swing of momentum because they were on us for a few minutes there,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy. “And then he saved that, which kind of turned the tide a little bit. I felt like the second half we played much better than the first half.”
Backed up by a strong defensive line, Young made several key plays inside and outside of the goal, warding off the Osprey's focused attack.
“North Florida plays a very direct style,” said Kennedy. “So they were just bombing it back to our back four. Brian (Young) had an outstanding game and he was able to pick up some of those balls.”
It wasn't until the second half that the change in momentum would yield a goal for the Eagles, and thanks to a balanced team effort, the Eagles held on for the first win over the Osprey's since 1991.
North Florida led in total shots (13-9) and corner kicks (10-6).
Junior Julian Donaldson (Aurora, Colo.) and freshman Andres Cabrero (Mableton, Ga.) unleashed a team-high three shots on the day. Smith added a pair of shots while junior Austen Peacock (Carrollton, Texas) tallied one shot.
The Eagles will next hit the road to open up Southern Conference action, taking on Elon, Saturday, Sep. 22 at 7 p.m.
