STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern midfielder David Vargas Masis caught the keeper napping and drilled a 40-yard shot over his head and into the top of the goal in the 88th minute to lift the Eagles to a 5-4 men's soccer victory over Florida Atlantic in the Marriott SpringHill Suites Invitational Friday night at Eagle Field.

The tally capped a four-goal half for the Eagles (2-2-0) in a back-and-forth tilt that saw both teams erase two-goal deficits. It also negated a fantastic individual performance by FAU (0-4-1) forward Ryan Price, who scored three goals in the contest.

Trailing 2-0 after Price put in two tallies in the first 22 minutes, the Eagles scored four straight goals with the first coming just before the halftime whistle.

With a minute to go in the frame, Matt Melton hit a long cross in from the right side towards the back corner of the goal, where Landon Barrow headed it off the turf and in.

Nick Wells got the equalizer for Georgia Southern in the 56th minute. The freshman dribbled into the box, methodically worked his way past two defenders and drilled a shot into the left corner for his first career tally.

Josh Ward put the Eagles in front for the first time just four minutes later. Ethan LaPan's corner went into the box where Jeremy Rector tried a shot to the bottom right corner. Owl keeper Theo Jamilloux tipped it away at the last second, but the rebound came to Ward who shot into an open net.

Raji put the Eagles ahead 4-2 when he juked a defender in the box and chipped the ball over the keeper in the 64th minute.

"At halftime, we tried to change our line of confrontation and draw Florida Atlantic in a little bit and look to exploit them on the counter," said Georgia Southern coach Kevin Kennedy. "We had a majority of our chances winning the ball in the middle third and immediately springing a counter attack in two or three passes. It proved to be very effective."

Price got his third of the night in the 70th minute, outdueling a couple Eagle defenders in the air and finishing with a shot past Eagle keeper Jack Falle to trim the margin to 4-3. Elijah McDonald got into the act and tied the game in the 83rd minute. A throw-in was passed back to the sophomore, who put a shot into the back of the net.

"On the night, we have to do better on set-piece defending," said Kennedy. "Three of their goals came on set pieces and when we were up 4-2, we have to do a better job of closing the match out. There was a high tempo to the match, and it was one of the most entertaining, if not best, college matches I've ever been a part of."

Price opened the scoring in the sixth minute when he headed down a long cross from Jason Fitzgerald. The senior got his second tally in the 22nd minute. He worked his way into the left side of the penalty area, made a nifty move to elude an Eagle defender and hammered a shot at Falle. Falle made the initial save, but the rebound came right back to Price and he poked it home.

The Eagles play host to UNC Asheville Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Eagle Field on the final day of the SpringHill Suites Invitational.

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