STATESBORO, Ga. - A pair of late Appalachian State goals took the
Mountaineers pas Georgia Southern in men's soccer action at Eagle Field, 2-1 on
Friday afternoon (October 14). Joe Hughes scored for the Eagles in the 32nd
minute, but the Mountaineers scored in the 81st and 89th minute to secure the
win. Georgia Southern is now 7-6-1 overall and 3-2-0 in SoCon play, while ASU
improves to 8-2-2 overall and 3-0-0 in the SoCon to take first place in the
league.
"I'm disappointed," said Head
Coach Kevin Kennedy. "I thought App State worked tremendously hard and they got
rewarded with two goals. I am, however, very disappointed with how we gave up
the goals, particularly because we gave them up in the final 10 minutes of the
match."
Georgia Southern took
control of the match in the 32nd minute when Joe Hughes (Mooresville, N.C.) recorded his second goal of the
season. An assist by Luigi Clendening
(Augusta, Ga.) played the ball from the top of the box into the channel where
Hughes bested the Mountaineer goalkeeper. The goal gave the Eagles a 1-0 edge
to wrap-up a first half that was even in terms of possession.
"I thought it was a great
build-up with Witt (Carlisle) taking the ball up and holding the ball for us,"
added Kennedy. "He combined well with Luigi (Clendening) who played a great
ball in to Joe (Hughes). He showed a lot of composure on the ball to pick
finesse over power for the goal."
With just 15 minutes
remaining, Georgia Southern let a golden opportunity fall by the wayside.
Clendening won a ball in the midfield and quickly passed to Hunter Norton (Evans, Ga.) who took the
ball into the penalty area. He crossed the ball in front of goal where Ethan LaPan (Martinez, Ga.) was on hand
for a sliding attempt from point blank range. The ball skipped partially past
LaPan and was shot wide of goal.
The Mountaineers leveled
the scoreline in the 81st minute on a header by Nicholas Skoda. He headed a
long throw-in by Harrison Delbridge into the net to tie the teams at 1-1 with
just nine minutes remaining in regulation.
Appalachian State, however,
won the match in the 89th minute with a corner kick goal by Delbridge. He
headed the corner by Ryan Lavigne into the upper corner of the net for the
game-winner, 2-1.
Ryan Platt (Preston,
England) made six saves for the Eagles who logged 12 shots on the afternoon
with five tries on frame. Clendening and Drew
Ruggles (Manassas, Va.) finished the match with four shots each.
Georgia Southern closes out
the 2011 regular season against Elon on October 21st at 7 p.m. and again on
October 25th at UNCG, also at 7 p.m.
Georgia Southern returns to
action against Jacksonville on Wednesday, September 28th. The non-conference
match against the Dolphins begins at 4 p.m. from Eagle Field.
Fans can follow their
Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at
facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at
gplus.to/GSAthletics.
