MACON, Ga. – The Georgia Southern men's soccer team bounced back from a tough loss at South Carolina earlier in the week and were rewarded with a road win over a solid Mercer team Saturday night at Bear Field. Blake Wilson scored twice for the Eagles and the defense held strong down the stretch as GS went on to win 2-1 over a Bears team that entered the game with a 5-1 record on the year.

Despite giving up a goal in the second minute, the Eagles didn't get discouraged and continued to attack. That relentlessness paid off just a minute after Mercer's goal as Blake Wilson scored his fifth goal of the season off a feed from Adam Abdellaoui. Wilson found the back of the net again in the 63^rd minute, again off an assist from Abdellaoui, this one a throw-in.

The Eagles had several other chances to extend the lead late in the game, but the Mercer goalkeeper was able to make some changes and recorded four saves on the night. On the other side of the field, redshirt freshman Torgeir Fjaer had six saves compared to the one goal allowed.

MATCH FACTS
Georgia Southern (3-3-1) – 2
Mercer (5-2-0) – 1

SCORING SUMMARY
2' – MU – Will Bagrou (2^nd of the season) off serve from Nickolas Tripodi
3' – GS – Blake Wilson (5^th of the season) off assist from Adam Abdellaoui
63' – GS – Blake Wilson (6^th of the season) off a throw in by Abdellaoui

NOTES
- With the 2-1 win Saturday night, Georgia Southern broke a streak of seven wins by Mercer and gives GS a 24-23 advantage in the series that dates back to 1980. It is the first Eagle win in the series since August 26, 2006. Ironically for head coach John Murphy, the last time the Eagles won against Mercer, Kevin Kennedy was in his first season at the helm of the program.
- Saturday's game was the second time this season that junior Blake Wilson has recorded multiple goals, including his hat trick in the season-opener over Houston Baptist. Wilson now has 12 points on the year, including the game-winner Saturday.
- Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Torgeir Fjaer now has 21 saves on the year after recording six saves Saturday night. He also boasts a 1.21 goals against average.
- Adam Abellaoui's two assists in Saturday night's win were the first two of the season for him. He is now second to Thor Sveinbjornsson (3) for assists on the year and he now has three assists for his career.

QUOTE FROM COACH JOHN MURPHY
"I'm very happy for the team and the way they bounced back after some tough results in the last few games. With a young team, sometimes you worry about not winning creeping in and affecting their confidence, but it hasn't. The group has been very positive and I have to give credit to my assistant coaches and my staff for keeping everyone positive and in the right mindset.

"In saying that, we didn't start the way we should have, conceding a goal after just one minute of play, but we responded within a minute ourselves to equalize and the game settled in from there. I thought we did a lot better job possessing the ball, we had a lot more chances that made us dangerous and went on to score that second goal. If not for a few good saves by their goalkeeper, we could have honestly pushed on and gotten a third goal.

"I think this game really showed some growth from the South Carolina game where we scored the opening goal and probably sat back too much. I think we had a proper balance between defending and being resolute but also getting ahold of the ball, possessing it and creating scoring chances on the break. This was a good win for us over a good Mercer team, but we have to continue to work, recover and prepare as we head to Durham to play Duke next Tuesday in another nationally televised game."

NEXT UP
Georgia Southern will wrap up their current three-game road swing on Tuesday, September 20 with a trip to Durham, North Carolina to take on Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Duke. The game between the Eagles and Blue Devils will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be the second nationally-televised game of the season for the Eagles as it will air on the ACC Network Extra.


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