NORFOLK, Va. - Senior Javier Carbonell scored twice in a three-and-a-half minute span late in the second half to help Georgia Southern men's soccer earn a 2-2 draw at Old Dominion on Sunday afternoon at the ODU Soccer Complex.

The Eagles finish their opening weekend trip to Virginia with a 1-0-1 mark, gaining points against a pair of teams who advanced to the NCAA Championships in 2017. Georgia Southern picked up a 2-0 win at VCU on Friday night. ODU also moved to 1-0-1 on the season with the draw.

Trailing by a 2-0 score in the 77th minute, a foul just outside the box to the right of the net set up Javier Carbonell with a free kick, and the senior beat Akar inside the near post with the direct kick for his first goal of the season, cutting the deficit to one.

In the 81st minute, a throw-in deep in ODU's half from the right side was headed twice towards goal, and Carbonell was the man on the spot as his point-blank header beat Akar to even the match at 2-2.

"When you're down 2-0 with less than 15 minutes to go, you do anything just to get a foothold back in the match," Georgia Southern Head Coach John Murphy said. "For us to come back and equalize, says a lot about our character."

Less than a minute later, a second yellow was shown to the Monarchs' Deniz Dogan, forcing ODU to play a man down for the rest of the match.

The Eagles had a chance to steal the win late in regulation as freshman Adam Davie's shot in the 89th minute passed just inches wide of the left post.

In the first overtime period, the Eagles had the only two shots - from Davie and Carbonell. In the second overtime period, however, there was action at both ends as GS keeper Jokull Blaengsson was called on to make a diving save of an ODU header by Ryan McLaughlin from a corner kick in the 103rd minute.

The Eagles' last chance to get the win came in the 105th minute as a shot from Davie was parried aside by Akar, then a follow-up try from freshman Samuel Mayer tight from the right side hit the post.

The Monarchs got off to a very quick start in the match, scoring their first goal just two minutes and 15 seconds into play. Max WIlschrey struck home a cross from Niko Klosterhalfen just inside the left post for the early 1-0 lead. ODU had a 7-0 shot advantage after the first 15 minutes.

Georgia Southern settled down and outshot the Monarchs by a 4-3 margin over the final 30 minutes of the first half. 

In the second half, the Eagles had a golden chance for the equalizer as senior Javier Carbonell sprinted up the left side and launched a long-range shot that handcuffed ODU goalkeeper Mertcan Akar, pushing the ball aside in a late-reacting save. GS could not take advantage of the following corner, and just two minutes later, Wilschrey struck again, this time from the right side off of a cross from Klosterhalfen in the 64th minute to stake the home team to a two-goal lead, setting the stage for the Eagles' late-match heroics.

"The chances were there to score the third goal," Murphy said. "But the truth is that we can't start college soccer games like that. The first 15-20 minutes were poor. I got it wrong with some decisions on our shape, that we fixed. Once we fixed that, we settled into the game. ODU is very clear minded, very mature, and when you play a game against a team like that, you hopefully draw lessons from playing them. It's the reason why we play the schedule we do. 

"To come out of this weekend with a win and a draw, you have to be pleased. We started six freshman and two sophomores. To get a good performance from such a young group bodes well for us."

Shots would finish 17-15 in favor of the Monarchs. Blaengsson made five saves in net for the Eagles, while Akar made four saves for ODU. The Eagles held an 8-6 edge in corner kicks, and GS was whistled for 14 fouls, compared to 13 for the Monarchs. The Eagles were offsides six times on the day and ODU was offsides four times.

The Eagles return to Statesboro for their 2018 home opener on Friday, August 31st, hosting North Florida in an 7:30 p.m. contest at Eagle Field. The time is a slight adjustment from the originally scheduled 8:00 p.m. start time.