STATESBORO, Ga. ? The Georgia Southern men's soccer team lost its final non-conference match to Mercer 1-0 Tuesday afternoon at Eagle Field.
The Eagles fall to 5-8-0 (2-3-0) and finish up non-conference play with a 3-5-0 record. The Mercer Bears improved to 2-9-5 (1-4-3) on the season.
“Mercer played well, and they got the goal,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy. They outworked us and outhustled us. I thought we did some good things, but finishing was poor. The finishing has to get better, and when it is not there we have to work harder.”
Georgia Southern controlled the ball early in the match but was unable to score in the first half despite two shots on goal from Jon Cox (Alpharetta, Ga.). Cox took the first shot on goal in the sixth minute of play, but David Bird stepped in to make the save.
The Eagles took five shots in the first 15 minutes of play.
The first half ended with a score of 0-0.
Mercer scored an early second half goal in the 57th minute of action. Arkenson Neckles scored his third goal of the season off of a pass from Chrispine Ong'ango. Neckles ended the match with five shots, two on goal and a goal scored.
“We made a bad mistake at the back and got punished for it,” said Kennedy.
Georgia Southern was unable to tie the match despite four second half shots on goal. Three of the shots on goal came within a two minute stretch. Danny Hall (Conyers, Ga.) took the first shot of the three in the 65th minute. B.J. Reine (Baton Rouge, La.) and Daniel Smith (Marietta, Ga.) took the other two shots on goal in the 67th minute.
The Eagles did have a few good defensive plays. Mark Beville (Apopka, Fla.) broke up a crossing pass in front of the goal, and Stephen George (Lawrenceville, Ga.) headed a free kick out of the box in the second half.
Georgia Southern returns to conference play Saturday at Davidson at 1 p.m. The Eagles still can host the first round in the Southern Conference Tournament with a win against Davidson and a loss by Appalachian State. “The chance to host is still out there. We need to get a good result against Davidson on Saturday,” said Kennedy.
