STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern men's soccer notched a pair of goals midway through the first half to pick up a 3-1 non-conference victory over visiting FAU on Tuesday evening at Eagle Field.

The Eagles (4-4-1) snapped a two-game slide and began the month of October with the win over the Owls (2-6), who dropped their fourth straight. Georgia Southern will next travel to Howard to open up Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday, October 6, at 5 p.m. in Washington, D.C.

Florida Atlantic collected the first two shots of the night, but the Eagles then registered the next six shots in a row, finally breaking through for the first goal in the 22nd minute as freshman Adam Davie collected a pass inside the box from Samuel Mayer, turned and buried a point-blank shot for his fifth goal of the season and the 1-0 lead.

The Eagles made it a 2-0 advantage in the 30th minute as Javier Carbonell redirected, with his body, a corner kick from Aldair Cortes into the net for his 11th goal of the season. Georgia Southern would take that two-goal lead into halftime, enjoying a 9-3 edge in shots.

In the second half, Carbonell would notch his second goal of the match and his 12th of the season in the 78th minute when goalkeeeper Jokull Blaengsson's long-ball found the head of Edward Raji, whose flick header sprung Carbonell into the box one-on-one with the FAU substitute goalkeeper Luis Aranzazu. Carbonell beat Aranzazu right for the final Eagle tally of the night.

The Owls pulled a goal back in the 83rd minute as a long ball from Alonso Coello was flicked on to Gonzalo Pena, who beat Blaengsson right for the score. The Owls had a pair of shots following their goal but none tested Blaengsson, and the Eagles were able to close out the victory.

"I think we saw a response," Georgia Southern Head Coach John Murphy said. "We weren't happy with our effort the other night at Mercer, which stings a little bit because it's a rivalry game and we should be better prepared for it. The kids came out with the right application and attitude tonight and they deserve all the credit. I thought we came out much brighter, with a lot more energy than we've had as of late. We've gone through a tough stretch here, but people have to remember that we're playing very good opposition, and we have to keep that in mind with such a young team. I think the performances have actually been pretty good. We just have to draw a line under the Mercer performance and move on, and I think tonight was a good start towards doing that."

Georgia Southern finished the night with a 17-9 edge in shots. Blanegsson made three saves in net for the Eagles, while Hagay Jalon made three saves for the Owls in his first half of work. Aranzazu came on and had a pair of saves in the second half. FAU had four corner kicks, compared to three for the Eagles, and fouls were 13 for GS and 10 for the Owls. FAU was also offsides three times on the night and GS was offsides twice.