Eagle Men’s Soccer Drops Home Finale to Furman
10/24/2012 2:09:59 AM | Men's Soccer
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STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Men’s Soccer closed the 2012 home regular season schedule on Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss to Furman. The Eagles deserved a win or a draw in the final match of the year at home, playing with the Paladins who were nationally ranked earlier this season. Rocco Bagley scored Georgia Southern’s 30th minute equalizer, but a late Furman goal sealed the home defeat.
“In the second half I really felt like we caused them some problems in the attacking third, but they were able to neutralize Drew Ruggles and that hurt us building from the back,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy. “Rocco has really given us a spark recently after coming back from injury and I felt he did a great job to get on the end of a very good service by Nick Lane.”
Furman’s first corner kick of the night paid off in spades as the Paladins took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute. Coleton Henning scored a header off of Martin Ontiveros’ volleyed ball into the area. It was the sixth goal of the year for last year’s SoCon Co-Player of the Year.
Rocco Bagley leveled the score at 1-1 in the 30th minute with a diving header at the back post of a Nick Lane cross. The cross caught the Furman keeper out of position, allowing Bagley to score the equalizer with 15 minutes remaining in the first half.
Georgia Southern’s defense stymied the Paladins for much of the second half. GSU’s defense made four saves in the second half.
Another corner kick, Furman’s seventh of the contest provided the second goal of the night with 7:04 remaining. Southern successfully denied the initial shot, but the clearance was volleyed into the back of the net by Clint Ritter. He hit the shot on the run from 20 yards, giving the Paladins the 2-1 win.
The Eagles finished the night with 15 shots to Furman’s 16. Eagle goalkeeper Neal Bates made six saves on the evening, keeping the Eagles in the contest. With the loss, the Eagles fall to 4-11-1 overall and 2-3-1 in SoCon play entering the final round of regular season play.
Georgia Southern closes the 2012 regular season on Saturday evening at College of Charleston. The match from the Patriot’s Point Soccer Stadium starts at 7 p.m.
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