WASHINGTON, D.C. - Howard University notched its first Sun Belt men's conference shutout win since 2016 with a 3-0 collegiate men's soccer victory over visiting Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon at Greene Stadium in Washington, D.C.

The Bison (5-8-1, 2-1 SBC) stretched their current win streak to three, while Georgia Southern (6-7-2, 1-2 SBC) suffered its second straight Sun Belt loss. The Eagles return to the pitch on Saturday, November 2, hosting Appalachian State at 7 p.m. at Eagle Field. It will be Senior Day for Georgia Southern and the Eagles will honor its six seniors in a pre-match ceremony.

Howard opened up the match's scoring in the 14th minute as a cross from Chris McGhan found Joseph Abusada in the box, who headed it past Georgia Southern goalkeeper Jose Bomfim for the first tally.

Georgia Southern looked to have equalized in the 27th minute of the first half as senior Gonzalo Talavera found the back of the net, but an offsides ruling took the goal off the board. The score would stay 1-0 into halftime as each team had three shots in the first half.

In the second half, junior Corey Irvine had three straight shots as Georgia Southern kept searching for the equalizer, but Howard made it a two-goal advantage on Andres Gomez' team-leading seventh goal of the year, coming in the 56th minute. 

Georgia Southern continued to apply pressure, forcing Howard goalkeeper Carlos Caro into five second-half saves, but the Bison delivered the clincher on Abusada's second goal of the match, a 35-yard strike in the 84th minute.

"Fair play to Howard, they scored in the run of play in the first half against us," Georgia Southern Head Men's Soccer Coach John Murphy said. "So we tried to push in the second half to score the equalizer, and it left us exposed. Unfortunately, we have struggled to score goals this year and we didn't create enough chances when it was 0-0 and 1-0. After the second goal, you're asking a lot of your team. Howard were motivated and energetic, they matched us in intensity. I can't fault the kids for their effort, but we're going to take a couple of days to evaluate and we will turn our attention to Appalachian State."

The Eagles finished the match with a 14-8 edge in shots, including an 11-5 edge in the second half. Bomfim finished with three saves for Georgia Southern and Caro had seven saves for the Bison. Georgia Southern had a 6-3 edge in corner kicks. Howard was whistled for 12 fouls on the day, with six whistled against Georgia Southern. There was only one offsides call in the match, the one against the Eagles in the first half.