Eagles Score Twice, But Fall at Presbyterian, 3-2
9/27/2012 12:24:28 AM | Men's Soccer
// GAME BOX // UPDATED STATS (9-26-12) //
CLINTON, S.C. – Georgia Southern Men’s Soccer took a 2-1 lead early in the second half, but two goals sent Presbyterian College past the Eagles, 3-2 on Wednesday evening at PC’s Martin Stadium.
“We were very poor defensively tonight,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy. “We are going to have a tough time staying in games if we keep giving up soft goals like this.”
The Eagles were without the services of starters Drew Ruggles and Nick Lane for the match as graduate student Ciaran Fairman made his first start for the Eagles in central defense. Neal Bates also made his first start of the year in goal for the Eagles, replacing Jack Falle between the pipes.
The Blue Hose got the match’s opening goal in the 15th minute as a result of a free kick by Ignacio Monchetti. The foul by Fairman earned him a yellow card just outside the box on the far side. Monchetti hit an in-swinger which found the net for the Blue Hose’s fourth goal of the season.
Witt Carlisle produced the best scoring chance of the first half hour for the Eagles in the 24th minute with a breakaway attempt. The pass found Carlisle at the top of the box in stride and allowed the junior to take a point-blank range shot which was saved by the Blue Hose goalkeeper, denying the junior his third goal of the year.
With 8:55 left in the first half, sophomore David Vargas Masis scored his first goal of the season to level the teams at 1-1. He was freed on a breakaway by Reed Norton and dinked the ball over the keeper’s head into the net.
Just before the hour mark, the Eagles scored their second goal off the boot of a Chase Park. The Eagle build-up featured a cross that narrowly missed the heads and came to Emmanuel Raji at the far side of the 18-yard box. The freshman recycled the ball into the box, finding Hunter Norton at the far corner of the six-yard box where the GSU captain took his shot. The save rebounded across the face of goal where a diving Park put toe to leather for his first career goal.
Five minutes later, Presbyterian leveled the scores at 2-2 on a cross that found the Blue Hose captain in the danger area. Byron Quinatoa crossed the ball through the box and found Nico Fazio free for his first of the year.
With 10:34 remaining the Blue Hose took a 3-2 lead as GSU’s goalkeeper was caught in no-man’s land allowing PC to get an empty net chance. The ball was played slowly towards goal, but a GSU defender’s unlucky touch on a clearance attempt allowed the ball to roll into the goal.
Overall the Eagles ruled the attacking stats with 11 shots, six on goal to Presbyterian’s six shots, four on frame. GSU falls to 2-7-0 on the year while the Blue Hose improve to 2-7-0 in 2012.
Georgia Southern opens October with a trip to face North Carolina in the final non-conference game of the regular season. GSU opens league play on Saturday, October 6th, traveling to Davidson.
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