MACON, Ga. -  Georgia Southern men's soccer team scored two first-half goals and added a third in the 73rd minute to win the opener of the Mercer Tournament 3-0 over the Stetson Hatters.

"We were very excited to get this win, particularly against a good Stetson team," said Head Coach Kevin Kennedy. "On top of that, the team showed tremendous character and effort in preserving the shutout. Our goal was to put together a complete game, and we certainly did that tonight."

Eric Dinka got the scoring started with a 10th minute goal off a pass for Witt Carlisle to stake Georgia Southern (2-2) to an early lead. Emmanuel Raji tacked on a second goal right before halftime in the 41st minute. Raji nailed a shot off of a cross from David Vargas Masis. Hunter Norton capped the scoring with his first goal of the season off of a free kick in the second half. 

On the defensive end, Neal Bates kept Stetson (1-3-1) out of the net with five saves. Bates played all 90 minutes in the cage and helped the Eagles post their second win of the season.

The Hatters out-shot GSU 7-6 in the first half, but the Eagles won the final tally 15-13. Stetson recorded eight corner kicks to Georgia Southern's five but was carded for two yellow cards and a red card which led to the second half goal. 

Reed and Hunter Norton paced GSU with three shots each, while three other Eagles tallied two shots in the match. Steven Saballos led the Hatters with three shots.

Georgia Southern returns to the field Sunday and will face the homestanding Mercer Bears at 7 p.m. in the finale of the Mercer Tournament. 

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and witter.com/GSAthletics, and its "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.