STATESBORO - Georgia State used a pair of second-half goals to clinch a Sun Belt Conference men's soccer victory over host Georgia Southern on Friday evening at Eagle Field.

The Panthers (6-1, 2-1 SBC) completed a rare in-season sweep of the Eagles (1-5, 0-3 SBC) with the modified Sun Belt schedule. Georgia State won the earlier matchup in Atlanta, just 12 days ago. Georgia Southern will next head on the road to visit conference-leading Coastal Carolina on Sunday, October 25th, at 2 p.m in Conway, S.C.

A very tight first half looked destined to head to the break scoreless, with just one shot for each team through the first 20 minutes of play. Georgia Southern had a golden opportunity to score in the 25th minute but CJ Smith's shot from the right side was saved off the line by a Panther defender. 

Georgia State broke through with the match's first goal in the 33rd minute on a set piece. A corner kick by Ross Finnie found Jack HIlton-Jones on the far post. Hilton-Jones headed it across the goal to the near post, where Andrew Bennett headed it in for the 1-0 lead. The first half ended with the 1-0 lead by the Panthers and Georgia State enjoying a 5-3 edge in shots.

In the second half, the Panthers increased their lead to 2-0 in the 57th minute as Bennett's cross from the left side found Matthew Fearnley on the right side of the box. Fearnley volleyed the ball and it caromed off the near post and in for the score.

The Panthers then put the match away in the 74th minute on an individual effort by Bennett to bring the ball to the top of the box through defenders, then having his shot deflect off of a defender and into the net for his second goal of the night.

Georgia State finished the night with an 11-8 edge in shots. Paul Tyson made five saves in net for Georgia State, while Jokull Blaengsson made four saves in net for Georgia Southern. Each team had three corner kicks and the Eagles were whistled for 11 fouls, compared to eight for the Panthers. 

HEAD COACH JOHN MURPHY'S COMMENTS

"When the results aren't going your way, your heads tends to drop. Even after conceding the goal before halftime, I was feeling good about the team and where we were. Obviously with the second goal, it feels like a mountain to climb, when the reality is that it's not. And that's a mentality that has to come from us. We have high standards around here, and we know it's an unusual year. But the fight and the togetherness that these kids have, over the fulll 90 minutes, is what we're looking for. We just have to add a little quality to that, that I think was lacking at times tonight."

"I think that's the best game that JP's [Jack Philp] has ever played for us, he fantastic at right back, really strong. Aidan Ferreira, as a freshman, handled himself very well at center back. I think there's some things to take out of it, and it didn't feel, to me, like a 3-0 game. I felt we had chances and just didn't put away the opportunities that we had. But we've just got to leave it and move on. We play first-place Coastal Carolina next week on the road. Again, we have to have some perspective and gratitude that we're playing. We have to prepare for the Sun Belt tournament that's coming up, but we also have to find the best version of ourselves before then."