WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sophomore Gonzalo Talavera and freshman Edward Raji each tallied their first goals of the season to lead Georgia Southern men's soccer to a 2-1 Sun Belt Conference win over host Howard University on Saturday afternoon at Greene Stadium in Washington, D.C.

The Eagles improved to 5-4-1 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt with the victory, while Howard fell to 1-5-3 overall and 0-1 in the league with the loss. Georgia Southern will next travel No. 6-ranked Louisville on Tuesday to face the Cardinals at 7 p.m. in Louisville, Ky.

Howard opened the match with the run of play, collecting five of the first six shots in the match. The Eagles closed the shot gap and finally got the breakthrough late in the first half as redshirt freshman Edward Raji scored his first collegiate goal, off of an assist by freshman Joshua Deane, in the 42nd minute to take a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.

The Bison responded quickly in the second half as Victor Guirma notched a goal just two minutes and 34 seconds after halftime, off of an assist from Joel Cunningham, to draw the match even at 1-1. It didn't take long for the Eagles to respond as Aldair Cortes' service into the box was headed home by sophomore Gonzalo Talavera for his first goal of the season and the match-winner.

Howard pressured for the equalizer late and freshman Jokull Blaengssson turned aside a shot by Lloyd Pierre in the 86th minute to keep the lead. The Bison had a corner kick with 29 seconds left in regulation but Georgia Southern was able to defend and claim the victory.

"We're pleased to open up league play with an important result," Georgia Southern Head Men's Soccer Coach John Murphy said. "The performance matched a winning effort. I think we've responded well since last Saturday's match at Mercer and showed growth as a group. I told the team that as we progress, there's going to be valleys, you just have to work through them.

"[Edward] Raji scored his first goal, he took it very well from a clever pass from [Joshua] Deane. Deane may have been the man of the match, he had a very good effort in central midfield, his all-around play and energy were quite good. Our back line was resilient tonight. They scored in the run of play early in the second half, which challenged us, but we responded with the winning goal less than 10 minutes later. Jokull [Blaengsson] made an important save late. Howard's going to give people a lot of problems in the Sun Belt. They are a dynamic and quick team. But I am pleased with the result."

Howard finished the match with a 13-10 edge in shots on the day. Blaengsson finished the game with five saves for the Eagles, while Carlos Caro notched six saves in net for the Bison. Howard had nine corner kicks, compared to six for the Eagles, and the fouls were 11 on GS and eight on the Bison. Georgia Southern was whistled for four offsides and Howard was whistled for three.