STATESBORO – For the past two seasons, the Hartwick Hawks have been the team to beat in the Sun Belt Conference, claiming the 2014 and 2015 regular-season titles as well as both conference tournament titles. Saturday night, the Georgia Southern men's soccer team knocked off the Hawks 2-1 at Eagle Field in what was a thrilling matchup between two teams atop the conference standings.

The Eagles dominated the time of possession for much of the game, especially in the first 60 minutes. GS came out fired up in the first half and kept the ball on Hartwick's side of the field for most of the first period, taking nine shots and six corner kicks. The Eagles' tenacity paid off in the 21^st minute when freshman forward Josh Bronstorph scored on an open net after the Hawks' goalkeeper misplayed a previous shot and ran into his own player.

The Eagles didn't slow down from there, continuing to search for an insurance goal. That goal came in the 58^th minute when sophomore defender Emil Laursen netted his third goal, the eventually game-winner, off a brilliantly placed left-footed corner kick from freshman Sander Wang. Hartwick was able to pull back within one goal in the 69^th minute with a goal from Hamish Ritchie, but the Eagles' defense remained resolute with Laursen, Nick Wells, Justin Little, Rasmus Juul and goalkeeper Torgeir Fjaer finding ways to clear out Hartwick's attempts to find the equalizer.

With the win Saturday night, Georgia Southern remains atop the conference standings, joined by Coastal Carolina with seven points each. The Chanticleers defeated Howard 2-0 in Conway, S.C., Saturday night, but CCU lost 1-0 earlier this year to Hartwick while the Eagles do not have a blemish on their conference mark. Georgia State also defeated Appalachian State 1-0 in Boone, N.C., Saturday night. Prior to the week, Georgia Southern, Hartwick, App State and Coastal all entered the weekend with four points atop the conference standings.

MATCH FACTS
Hartwick (7-3-3) – 1
Georgia Southern (7-5-3) – 2

SCORING SUMMARY
21' – GS – Josh Bronstorph (2) – Bronstorph corralled in a ball misplayed by the Hartwick goalie and scored on an open net.
58' – GS – Emil Laursen (3) assisted by Sander Wang – Laursen header off a corner kick from Wang.
69' – HC – Hamish Ritchie (2) – Ritchie corralled in a deflected ball and scored in the upper left of the net.

NOTES
- Georgia Southern is now 2-2 all-time against Hartwick, including 2-1 in Statesboro. The Eagles and Hawks met twice in the 2014 season, both games being contested at Eagle Field. The Eagles claimed the first-ever meeting between the two during the regular-season but the Hawks claimed the second meeting in Statesboro in the Sun Belt Conference finals.
- Georgia Southern's current streak of five positive results in a row is the longest streak by the Eagles since the 2006 season. The 2006 Eagles, under the direction of then-first year head coach Kevin Kennedy, rattled off six positive results in a row from Sept. 8, 2006, to Sept. 30. GS was 3-0-3 during that stretch with road wins over Centenary, Gardner-Webb and Appalachian State.
- Saturday night's victory marks the fourth time this season that the Eagles have defeated a team ranked in the top-10 of the Southeast Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Hartwick entered the week fifth in the region while the Eagles were eighth. Earlier this year, the Eagles beat Stetson (seventh), North Florida (fifth) and Georgia State (ninth) with the wins over the Hatters and Panthers coming on the road.
- Redshirt freshman Torgeir Fjaer is now 5-3-3 on the year with 60 saves after finishing Saturday night's game with three saves.
- Sophomore defender Emil Laursen now leads the team with three game-winners following Saturday night's contest.

QUOTE FROM COACH JOHN MURPHY
On the overall feeling of the game
"This was a very difficult game, which was nothing short of what we expected. Hartwick has been the cream of the conference the past couple years and I was very impressed with their group of players despite missing a couple due to injury. But we never heard an excuse from their coach or anyone else on their team. Rather, they went out and put on a great shift. It was a very well-played match and I thought we had good control of much of the game, but they certainly fought back when it was 2-0 and got a good goal and things got a bit edgy from there. Despite that, I always thought we had good control of the game; I felt like we could have scored a third goal near the end to make life a bit easier, but this is what these games are and we were resolute and gritty. You're not going to beat anybody easily, especially not a team as good as Hartwick."

On the upcoming games versus Clemson, Howard and App State
"We can't look ahead of anybody, especially at this point of our season. We have a big non-conference game at Clemson on Tuesday and then we have to travel to Howard for another Sun Belt game. These games and these teams, there are no easy ones. We are going to Clemson, which is one of the top teams and top venues in the country, and it will be an exciting game for all of us. Then we travel up to Howard in Washington, D.C., so we're in no position to be looking ahead or at standings. We tend to focus on ourselves, focus on getting a little bit better. We'll have a smile on our face tomorrow, but we will still get back out there and work to prepare for our next game."

NEXT UP
Georgia Southern travels to Clemson, S.C. next week to take on the nationally-ranked Tigers of Clemson on Tuesday, Oct. 25. The Tigers are currently ranked eighth by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA), are fourth according to Top Drawer Soccer and are first in the NCAA RPI standings. GS and CU will kick off at 7 p.m. with the game airing on the ACC Network Extra, part of the ESPN family of networks.


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