COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Georgia Southern men's soccer team went on the road into a hostile environment and came just a few minutes shy of walking away with a win Tuesday night. The Eagles led a traditionally good South Carolina team 1-0 for much of the match, but the Gamecocks were able to find the equalizer late in the second half and used the momentum swing to earn a 2-1 victory in overtime at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium.

The Eagles went on the attack from the first whistle and it paid off as Blake Wilson scored his fourth goal of the season in the seventh minute off a deflected shot by Adam Abdellaoui to give the Eagles the early 1-0 lead. Despite being out-shot 13-7 in the first half, the Eagles held onto the lead well into the second period, but the Gamecocks would not be denied as they found the net in 84^th minute and then went on to claim the win in the first overtime.

MATCH FACTS
Georgia Southern (2-3-1) – 1
South Carolina (2-3-0) – 2

SCORING SUMMARY
7' – GS – Blake Wilson corralled in a rebound off a deflected shot by Adam Abdellaoui, hit a shot from 10 yards out (Unassisted).
84' – SC – Luca Mayr brought in a deflected ball, hit shot from 25 yards out (Unassisted).
98' – SC – Kevin Walker scored from three yards out off a pass from Koty Millard.

NOTES
- The Eagles and Gamecocks have now faced off six times with the Gamecocks owning a 5-0-1 all-time record over GS. All six games have been contested in Columbia dating back to 1982.
- The game was the first of four nationally-televised games this season for the Eagles. It was featured on the SEC Network+.
- Blake Wilson currently leads the Sun Belt Conference with 18 total shots on the year. He is also second in the league with four goals and tied for second with eight points.
- Redshirt freshman goalie Torgeir Fjaer recorded nine saves, eclipsing his mark of six in his first career start on Friday against James Madison. It was also his second career start.
- The Eagles are currently 2-3-0 in games away from Eagle Field in 2016.
- Georgia Southern once again started three true freshmen and four total freshman, including Fjaer, Josh Bronstorph, Rasmus Juul and Justin Little. Freshmen Filip Davidovski and Trei Schwartz each also earned playing time in the game.

QUOTE FROM COACH JOHN MURPHY
"As strange as it sounds, I think we grew as a team because the reaction in the locker room by the players following the game was of anger. That shows me we are a team that knows we are capable of doing more. We came to a fantastic venue, played against a traditionally strong program, we started so well with that early goal and really kept the pressure, but we needed to score a second goal. If you're the team that sits back and tries for a 1-0 score, you're taking a big chance and I don't think we meant to play that way but it came out that way. South Carolina kept finding different ways to attack and if I had to critique our team, we just didn't work the wide areas well enough. I think a second goal was there for us, but we didn't execute and we paid the price for it late in the game, conceding that first goal as late as we did. And I think that's when the momentum switched to them and they scored a scruffy goal in the first overtime.

"But there are lots of positives to take from this game. I thought Torgeir was fantastic in goal for us and our back four (Hunter Loyden, Emil Laursen, Justin Little and Rasmus Juul) was solid for us all night long. I also felt like Jeremy Rector and Aidan Reising, our two seniors, were just magnificent out there tonight. They left everything out there on the field and I'm very proud of those two in particular. The result is tough to take, but we'll learn from it and grow from it and now we have to prepare for a tough Mercer team on the road."

NEXT UP
The Eagles are in the midst of a three-game road swing that will take them into three different states including South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina. GS will next travel to Macon to take on the Bears of Mercer on Saturday, September 17 in an 8 p.m. contest.


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