STATESBORO – Freshman forward Josh Bronstorph scored his first collegiate goal Wednesday night with a strike to the bottom left corner of the net with eight seconds left in regulation to lift the Georgia Southern men's soccer team to a 3-2 win over Gardner-Webb at Eagle Field.

The 2016 Gatorade Georgia Boy's Soccer Player of the Year scored 31 goals in his high school career, and Wednesday night he showed the large crowd gathered at Eagle Field how he became one of the most dangerous players in the Peach State during his prep career. The game-winning strike came with eight seconds left in regulation as Bronstorph dribbled into the box. The freshman forward out of Dunwoody, Ga. found Blake Wilson waiting to his left and fed him the ball. Wilson, who has proven a deft scorer himself with eight goals on the season, gave a perfect one touch ball back to Bronstorph who capitalized to put the Eagles ahead for good.

Senior Jeremy Rector got the scoring going in just the second minute of the game as he corralled in a rebounded header that Chris MacMurray hit off the post. Rector collected the rebound and easily put the ball past the Gardner-Webb goalkeeper to give GS the 1-0 lead. However, just over a minute later, the Bulldogs answered with a goal from Severin Soerlie followed by another, this time from David Koloko, to go up 2-1 before the intermission.

Following the half, the Eagles turned up the heat, ending the game with 23 shots, including seven on frame. In the 73^rd minute, Sander Wang dribbled into the box and fed Filip Davidosvki who sent a cross over to Nick Wells. Wells didn't waste his opportunity as he scored his second goal of the season, tying the game at 2-2 and setting up the exciting finish.

MATCH FACTS
Gardner-Webb (3-8) – 2
Georgia Southern (6-5-1) – 3

SCORING SUMMARY
2' – GS – Jeremy Rector (1) unassisted – corralled in a rebounded header off the post from Chris MacMurray and finished from five yards out
4' – GWU – Severin Soerlie (3) unassisted – dribbled past defender into the top of the box, scored from 18 yards out
35' – GWU – David Koloko (2) assisted by Soerlie –Soerlie dribbled into the left side of the box and served up Koloko who finished from 10 yards out
73' – GS – Nick Wells (2) assisted by Sander Wang, Filip Davidovski – Wang played the ball into the box to Davidovski who crossed to Wells, Wells with the strike to finish
90' – GS – Josh Bronstorph (1) assisted by Blake Wilson – Bronstorph dribbled to just outside the box, fed Wilson who gave one touch backwards to Bronstorph who hit a striker into the lower left of net from 25 yards out

NOTES
- Georgia Southern is now 6-3-1 all-time against Gardner-Webb, including 3-1 at home. The Eagles have now won four-in-a-row over the Bulldogs and have recorded a positive result in the last five meetings with GWU.
- The Eagles have won their last two games and are above .500 for the season with a 6-5-1 record in head coach John Murphy's first season.
- Georgia Southern entered the game ninth in the Southeast Region as voted on by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). They are one of three Sun Belt teams in the region poll, including Hartwick (5^th) and Georgia State (10^th).
- Freshman Josh Bronstorph's last-minute goal was the first of his collegiate career. He now has four points on the season as he also had two assists earlier in the year. He is one of three freshmen, including Rasmus Juul and Sander Wang to have four points on the year.
- Bronstorph is the sixth different Eagle to record a game-winner on the year. He and fellow freshman Wang join Blake Wilson, Emil Laursen and Nick Wells in the distinction.
- Wilson's assist on Bronstorph's game-winner was the second of the season for the junior forward. He now has a team-best 18 points on the year.
- Freshman goalkeeper Torgeir Fjaer played all 90 minutes between the pipes for the Eagles and recorded six saves. He is now 4-3-1 since earning the starting position. He now has 42 saves on the year and entered Wednesday's game tied for 17^th in the nation with 5.14 saves per game.

QUOTE FROM COACH JOHN MURPHY
"We started well with the first goal very early in the game, but after that we conceded one quickly off a mistake that we shouldn't be making at this point of the year. At halftime, we tried to make a couple of adjustments but, this game was the same as the Georgia State game in that it couldn't be a coaches' adjustment, it had to be a player's adjustment.

"I thought in the second half we played with a little more of an appetite and energy, both of which I think are important, and we scored a great equalizer goal with Nick Wells. It was a great finish from the corner. From there to me, there was only going to be one winner and we were setting our team up for overtime because you really don't think you're going to be scoring with less than 10 seconds in the game. Less than 10 seconds to go in a soccer game, the game is over. I think the fact that we have the character and the work rate to finish the game off at that point is fantastic. Josh showed great skill and technique, perfect technique to keep the ball low and it was a fantastic finish. I've been coaching for a long time, and unless it's overtime, there haven't been too many games that ended that way.

"Gardner-Webb is a good team. We're not expecting anything less from any team at this level. You're not going to have any easy games and you can't expect to blow anybody out 4-0. We expected the battle from Gardner-Webb and we expect it from more of our opponents."

NEXT UP
The Eagles once again hit the road for a pair of games, first traveling to Conway, S.C. where Georgia Southern will battle Sun Belt Conference newcomer Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 15. Georgia Southern will then travel to Clinton, S.C. to take on the Blue Hose of Presbyterian College on Tuesday, Oct. 18 before returning home for a crucial conference showdown with Hartwick on Saturday, Oct. 22.


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