STATESBORO - Visiting Coastal Carolina scored twice in the match's first 10 minutes to spoil Georgia Southern women's soccer Senior Night on Friday, picking up a 4-1 Sun Belt Conference victory over the Eagles.

The Chanticleers (5-6-2, 3-3-1 SBC) handed Georgia Southern (9-5-3, 4-2-2) their first and only loss at home during the 2021 regular season with the setback. The Eagles will finish the regular season on the road with two matches next week, beginning on Thursday with an 8 p.m. matchup at South Alabama.

A perfectly-fed longball by Sarah Allen found a streaking Taylor Tolson down the right side in the second minute for the Chanticelers. Tolson's cross found Megan Brouse, who finished deftly for the first tally of the night for Coastal Carolina. 

Brouse then tallied her second goal off of a feed from Loranna Austin, taking a shot from 22' out that caught Georgia Southern goalkeeper Michaela English by surprise. 

The Eagles pulled one back in the 12th minute off of a set piece. Senior Nora Falnes volleyed in a corner kick from senior Taylor Regensburger just inside the far post that made the score 2-1. That's how the first half would end, with Georgia Southern holding a 9-3 edge in shots.

Coastal Carolina's Brouse would complete her hat trick in the 52nd minute, running onto an errant pass by the Eagles' English that was intended for center back Megan Przybysz. Brouse finished underneath a diving English for the 3-1 lead.

The Chanticleers capped the scoring in the 88th minute as a deep cross by Rose Behrmann from the left side went all the way across the face of goal, to Jordyn Smith on the far post, who finished for the final 4-1 margin.

The Eagles finished the night with a 14-9 edge in shots. English made one save in net for Georgia Southern, while senior Sallie Newton came into the match in the 56th minute and made a pair of saves. Ky Hudson made four saves in net for Coastal Carolina. The Eagles enjoyed a 10-0 edge in corner kicks. Georgia Southern was whistled for six fouls and a pair of offsides, while Coastal Carolina committed five fouls and was offsides once.

"I thought we got off to a really slow start," Georgia Southern Head Women's Soccer Coach Chris Adams said. "I thought we were distracted. I think any time you have Senior Night, sometimes the festivities and the emotion are a factor - for example, we did it to Davidson earlier this season, we jumped them in the first five minutes on their Senior Day. Now we're on the other side of it. We allowed two very quick goals. It's my job to get the team prepared and ready, and obviously we weren't ready in those first 10 minutes. After that, I thought we settled in and answered pretty quickly to make it 2-1 and possibly make it a game. But again, we struggled in the run of play. We scored on a set piece, but we have not scored in the run of play for an incredibly long time. That's something we're going to have to clean up. We've got to score more goals in the run of play if we're going to make a run in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament."

The Eagles honored their eight seniors - midfielder Sarah Alexander, goalkeeper Olivia Elofsson, midfielder Vala Kristin Theodorsdottir, forward Marcela Montoya, defender Maddie Klintworth as well as Falnes, Regensburger and Newton in a pre-match ceremony. You can watch the video of the Senior Night ceremony below.