STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern men's soccer team defeated Davidson 2-1 in the opening round of the Southern Conference tournament Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field.
The Eagles improve to 8-8-0 (4-3-0) after the first round win. The Davidson Wildcats fall to 4-14-1 (2-5-0).
“Davidson is tough,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy. “It was a great win for us. We were able to rally from a goal down to win.”
The match was not an easy win. The Wildcats scored just seven minutes into the first half. Yannick Pilgrim got the goal off of a pass from Alex Caskey to make it 1-0.
Davidson appeared to be headed to the locker room with a lead, but the Eagles scored with 3:05 left in the half. Joe Madigan (Centennial, Colo.) took a shot from the right side of the box and knocked it into the left corner of the net to tie the match 1-1.
“After we gave up the goal we changed a few things,” stated coach Kennedy. “We were able to score right before the half.”
Georgia Southern played a good second half and outshot Davidson eight to four. One of those eight shots found its way into the net to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. Austin Steele (Kennesaw, Ga.) headed the ball into the net in the 58th minute of action. The header came off of a Madigan cross from outside the right side of the box. The goal was Steele's second of the season. The other goal came in the regular season matchup with Davidson on November 1st.
“I thought we came out and played with more energy than we did in the first half,” said coach Kennedy.
Georgia Southern continued to attack even after getting a lead. Jon Cox (Alpharetta, Ga.) had a shot on goal in the 79th minute, and Jarryd Nolette (Winemere, Fla.) took a shot that sailed high two minutes later.
“In Southern Conference play you can never just get a goal and think it is going to be over,” stated coach Kennedy.
The Eagles also got two big saves from Joey Ralph (Martinez, Ga.) in the 60th and 73rd minutes of play.
The Eagles advance to the second round against UNC Greensboro on Friday in Davidson, N.C. for the first time since 2006, when Georgia Southern lost 3-0 to UNC Greensboro in coach Kennedy's first season.
“The semi-final match against Greensboro will be another battle. After the first round you are at a neutral venue, and all bets are off. I anticipate Greensboro is going to be prepared, tough and confident after knocking off Furman,” said coach Kennedy.
