JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Georgia Southern Men's Soccer lost its final tune-up before conference play begins, dropping a 2-1 decision to North Florida on Sunday night at Hodges Stadium. Red cards in the 73rd and 77th minutes reduced the Eagles to nine players at the final whistle. Next up for Georgia Southern is the 2015 Sun Belt opener at Hartwick on Oct. 9.
MATCH FACTSGeorgia Southern (2-4-1) – 1
North Florida (4-5-0) - 2
SCORING38' – UNF – Josh Castellanos gets a turnover from the Eagle defense at the edge of the penalty area and beat the keeper with a shot to the left.
42' – GS –
Emmanuel Raji got his third goal of the season off a cross from
Matt Melton. The deep cross found Raji near the end line where he beat the keeper to the opposite corner of the goal.
78' – UNF – Milan Kovacs gets his third goal of the season when a through ball found him on the left side of the danger area. He beat the keeper to the right for the game-winning goal.
NOTES- Both Georgia Southern and UNF posted identical 13-shot tallies, the Ospreys won the shots-on-goal battle 8-6.
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Emmanuel Raji led the Eagles with four shots, all on frame.
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Jeremy Rector,
Adam Abdellaoui,
Nick Wells and
Thor Sveinbjornsson each had two shots.
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Adam Abdellaoui was sent off in the 73rd minute
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Emil Laursen was shown a red card in the 77th minute
WHAT COACH KEVIN KENNEDY SAID"We're obviously disappointed with the result. With that said, I thought we were playing extremely well up until Adam's ejection. Once that happens and you are forced to play a man down, it affects your tactics and how you need to approach the game to get a result. There are some positives that we can take from the match and we can grow from this game. Now we need to turn our focus to conference play and preparing for a very good Hartwick team."
NEXT UPGeorgia Southern has 12 days before Sun Belt play begins with a trip to Hartwick. The Eagles face the Hawks at 7 p.m. on October 9th.
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