STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern men's soccer program scored two goals in the game's first three minutes and seven seconds to pick up a 2-1 Sun Belt Conference victory over preseason league favorite Coastal Carolina on Saturday evening at Eagle Field.
The battle between the two teams who tied for the 2016 SBC regular season title saw the Eagles (3-3, 1-0 SBC) prevail by one goal - the sixth straight one-goal game that Georgia Southern has played to open up the 2017 campaign. Coastal Carolina falls to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in the SBC with the loss.
The quick start offensively for the Eagles began in the second minute as a free kick from the left side of the box saw Javier Carbonell deliver a perfect ball to the far post, where fellow countryman Gonzalo Talavera headed it inside the near post for his first collegiate goal and the 1-0 advantage.
Just one minute and 19 seconds later, Carbonell again delivered a perfect pass leading to the Eagles' second goal. His slotted throughball found Aldair Cortes inside the left side of the box, and Cortes finished deftly for his first collegiate goal and a blisteringly early two-goal lead.
Late in the first half, Coastal Carolina would get a golden chance to get one goal back before the break, but Thor Sveinbjornsson saved a header by the Chanticleers' Romario Piggott off the line in the 41st minute.
Georgia Southern would maintan the two-goal advantage into halftime, holding a slim 5-4 edge in shots at the break.
Coastal Carolina collected a pair of corner kicks and a shot within the first six minutes of the secon dhalf. Cortes had a superb look at a possible second goal of the night in the 57th minute, but it snaked just wide of the far post.
The Chanticleers did pull one back in the 82nd minute as Frantzdy Pierrot had a point-blank touch slide past Eagle keeper Robert Flott, off of a cross from Morten Timm, to make the score 2-1.
The final eight minutes saw three corners from the visitors but only one shot, a header from Pierrot in the 88th minute that Flott was able to save to preserve the victory.
"It was a hard-fought game," Head Coach John Murphy said. "I thought the way we started really put us in a good position for the rest of the game. It just teaches you that you have to come from first whistle, which we did. We expected Coastal to be tough, and the last half hour was very, very difficult for us. The kids showed a lot of character, a lot of toughness. The whole team put in a great shift today so we're very happy."
Coastal Carolina finished the match with an 11-10 edge in shots as Flott made four saves in net. Chanticleer starting goalkeeper Alex Bouillennec gave up two goals in 9:18 minutes of action without a save. Corner advantage went to CCU, 11-4, and Georgia Southern was whistled for 13 fouls, compared to 10 for the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina was offsides five times on the night and Georgia Southern once.
The Eagles return to action on Tuesday, traveling to Winthrop for a 7 p.m. non-conference contest in Rock Hill, S.C.
