JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Georgia Southern men's soccer team rallied from a second-half two-goal deficit to race past Jacksonville University, 5-3, on Saturday evening at Southern Oak Stadium.

The Eagles (3-2-1) snapped a two-game slide with the victory, while Jacksonville (0-6) remained winless on the year. Georgia Southern returns to Statesboro next to take on ETSU on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. at Eagle Field.

The winless Dolphins came out of the gate with a lot of energy, and in the game's sixth minute, scored the first goal as Selemani Baruani chipped Eagle keeper Jokull Blaengsson from about 27 yards out for the 1-0 lead. Jacksonville then doubled its lead in the 25th minute as a corner kick resulted in Reed Davis' goal for a two-goal advantage.

"When you start a game and put yourself in a hole, 2-0, it's just not ideal," Georgia Southern Head Coach John Murphy said. "We've had these slow starts, we need ot take a look at what we're doing. It hasn't been all the time to be fair. For some reason, our energy was wrong. Their energy was very high but we knew it was going to be like that. They haven't won a game, so you know you're going to get their best game, and the thing you don't want to happen is to let them get the first goal much less the second."

Georgia Southern pulled one back before halftime as a foul just outside the box set up Javier Carbonell with a dangerous free kick opportunity, and the senior delivered with a strike in the top right corner for the 2-1 score.

Early in the second half, Jacksonville made it 3-1 as Nazar Deputat tallied a goal in the 56th minute, putting the home team back up by two. But just more than two minutes later, Aldair Cortes' longball found the head of freshman Adam Davie, who flicked it past JU keeper Matt Levy to make it a one-goal match again.

In the 72nd minute, Davie was tripped up in the box, and a penalty kick whistled for. Carbonell calmly stepped up to the spot and delivered the equalizer.

But Carbonell wasn't done there. in the 78th minute, a clearance by the the Dolphins found the foot of Carbonell, who dribbled in to about 25 yards and uncorked a screamer that beat Levy right for the go-ahead goal and the hat trick, his first as an Eagle. It was the first hat trick for a GS men's soccer player since Blake Wilson scored three goals at Houston Baptist on August 26, 2016.

Carbonell then finished off the scoring as he headed in a free kick from Cortes in the 80th minute for the four-goal match and the 5-3 decision. It is only the fourth time in GS men's soccer history that a player has tallied four or more goals in a match, joining Jack Evans (5 vs. Armstrong State, 10/4/80; 4 vs. Centenary, 11/7/80) and Jeremy McClure (4 vs. George Washington, 1999).

"Big players step up in big moments," Murphy said. "Javi was given the captain's armband today because Gonzalo [Talavera] wasn't available. Obviously, you saw how he responded. His free kick goal gives us a foothold in teh game, but Adam's goal was the key goal, because when they go to 3-1, it's natural for everyone's heads to drop. But ours never dropped. That's the thing with our team, is we're never going to be out of it. 

"The guys that came in the second half really made the difference tonight," Murphy said. "Kareem Gharbi did a great job. Cody Prentiss came in and solidified the midfield. David Rhoades, who has played many, many games for us, locked down the left side. So as much as it is about Javi and Adam, two of our better known players, it was more about our secondary players, the guys you really don't hear about, being the key to victory tonight."

Overall, the Eagles finished the match with a 19-17 edge in shots. Each keeper - Blaengsson for GS and Levy for JU - made four saves on the night. JU enjoyed a 7-4 edge in corner kicks and the Dolphins were whistled for nine fouls, compared to six for the Eagles.