Eagles Score Early, Fall 2-1 to Jacksonville
9/28/2011 10:48:00 PM | Men's Soccer
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern Men's Soccer scored an early goal, but allowed a pair of Jacksonville goals to fall 2-1 at Eagle Field on Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 28th). The loss is Georgia Southern's first at home and moves the Eagles to 5-3-1 on the season while the Dolphins improve to 3-5-1 overall.
"We were disappointed with the loss today," said Head Coach Kevin Kennedy. "We came out wanting to attack them early and it got us a goal. Certainly there are no excuses, but we have to be more mentally tough out there and protect the lead."
Georgia Southern struck first with a goal off a corner kick in the ninth minute. Drew Ruggles (Manassas, Va.) drove the corner to the far post where Alex Evert (Marietta, Ga.) volleyed the ball back across the goal to the waiting Witt Carlisle (Alpharetta, Ga.) who redirected the ball into the goal for his fifth goal of the season.
The Dolphins responded in the 21st minute with a goal by Pedrag Ivanovic. The senior midfielder dribbled into the center of the Eagle defense and cracked off a shot from the top of the 18-yard box to tally his second goal of the season and draw the teams even at 1-1.
Jacksonville's Nick Rodriguez gave the Dolphins a 2-1 lead in the 59th minute with an open net goal. Ashton Pett delivered a cross to the far post where the GSU goalkeeper attempted to defend. His punch missed the ball and Rodriguez was able to score the open net goal for his third tally of the season.
That shot would be Jacksonville's only attempt of the season half as Georgia Southern finished the afternoon with a 14-8 shooting advantage. Georgia Southern's Ryan Platt (Preston, England) stopped three shots in goal for the Eagles.
"You could really see that we had some tired legs out there with us playing our third game in four days," added Kennedy. "Luckily we've got 72 hours to rest before Charleston comes in here on Saturday for a big Southern Conference match."
The Eagles play host to College of Charleston this weekend for a SoCon match on Saturday, October 1st. The match against the Cougars starts 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.
