SAVANNAH, Ga. - The second-seeded Georgia Southern men's soccer squad advanced to the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Finals with a 3-0 semifinal win over third-seeded Appalachian State on Friday evening at the Floyd E. Morris Field in Savannah, Ga.

The Eagles (7-6-3) advance to face top-seed Georgia State (10-6-2) - 2-1 winners over fourth-seed Coastal Carolina - in the 2018 Sun Belt Tournament final at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Eagle Field. The two teams met during the regular season in Statesboro, playing to a 1-1 draw back on October 20th.

Georgia Southern and Appalachian State were meeting for the fourth time in the last two seasons - and the previous three meetings were tight defensive affairs, resulting in only two total goals between the teams. The Eagles struck first when freshman Eirik Hoydal drew a penalty kick in the 28th minute for the home team. Senior Javier Carbonell's attempt was initially saved by Appalachian State goalkeeper Jake Chasteen, but Carbonell followed his own shot and struck home the rebound for the 1-0 lead.

"You've got to give Javi [Carbonell] credit on the first goal, because he played a battle of wits with the goalkeeper [on the penalty kick]," Georgia Southern head coach John Murphy said. "The goalkeeper guessed right, but the ball's alive when it's up in the crossbar. A lot of guys would have put their head in their hands, but Javi just kept going and put the rebound in. That was a huge goal for us."

The Eagles would take that one-goal advantage into halftime, holding a 5-1 edge in shots.

In the second half, Georgia Southern would double the lead thanks to freshman Adam Davie, who ran onto a diagonal pass from sophomore Aldair Cortes and beat Chasteen for his sixth goal of the year and the 2-0 lead. Cortes' assist was his Sun Belt Conference-leading seventh of the year.

"The second goal was great for Adam," Murphy said. "He's done so much work for us. It was nice to see the ball break well for him and obviously you saw the finish, the kid's a natural goal scorer."

The final tally for the Eagles would come off the foot of junior Sander Wang, who drilled a free kick into the upper right corner in the 88th minute that clinched the victory for Georgia Southern and the berth in the final.

"With Sander, everyone was cheering except for me," Murphy said. "I've seen Sander hit that ball 100 times in three years. He's had some injuries over the years, and to see him healthy and available for us, he's a big player and I wasn't surprised at all."

Georgia Southern finished the match with an 11-4 edge in shots. Freshman Jokull Blaengsson made a pair of saves in notching his fourth shutout of the year, while Chasteen made three saves for the Mountaineers. Each team had four corner kicks on the night and Appalachian State was whistled for 14 fouls, compared to 11 for th Eagles. 

This will be the second time Georgia Southern has advanced to the Sun Belt Conference tournament final since joining the league in 2014, and the sixth overall berth in a conference tournament championship match for the program. The Eagles hosted the 2014 Sun Belt Tournament and lost, 1-0, to Hartwick in the final at Eagle Field.

The meeting with the Panthers also represents another tilt in the Southern vs. State Rivaly Series, with two points on the line in the tournament clash. Currently the series is tied 2-2. Click here to view the 2018-19 Southern vs. State Rivalry Series standings.