PHOTO GALLERY

STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Men's Soccer was handed its first loss of league play on Saturday night as Howard took the 2-1 result on Senior Day for the Eagles. Prior to the match, Georgia Southern honored seniors Rocco Bagley, Josh Ward, David Vargas Masis, and Ethan LaPan.

The result gives the Bison their first win in Sun Belt play, moving to 2-11-1 on the year and 1-0-1 in the league to occupy first place. Georgia Southern falls to 5-6 overall and 1-1-0 in the Sun Belt.

"We came into tonight's match with high expectations, so we are very disappointed with the result," said Head Coach Kevin Kennedy. "We played well box to box, but we let through some tough goals in the defensive third. Going forward we got plenty of chances, but we couldn't get the second goal that we needed late. We've got some work to do as a team so we can bounce back next weekend against Appalachian State.

The Eagles went 1-0 up just after halftime when Eric Dinka scored his third goal of the season on an unassisted effort. The junior forward got free in the Howard box and finished from close range to put the home side up 1-0.

Howard equalized and went took the lead with two goals in an 11-minute span beginning in the 57th minute. Kyle Celestine scored both goals for the Bison with the first coming in the box as he turned to make space. Howard went 2-1 up when Celestine flicked a free kick from Donny-Joshua Felix over the Eagle keeper.

The Eagles pressed forward in the final minutes, out-shooting the Bison 18-8 in the contest and earning 13 corner kicks on the night.

Next up for the Eagles is back-to-back trips to the Tar Heel State to face Appalachian State and North Carolina. Georgia Southern faces the Mountaineers on Saturday night at 7 p.m. and face UNC on October 28th.

Georgia Southern hosts the 2014 Sun Belt Men's Soccer Tournament on November 13-16 at Eagle Field in Statesboro. The winner of the league's tournament championship earns a bid to the NCAA 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 twitter.com/GSAthletics. To purchase tickets call 1-800-GSU-WINS.