CHARLESTON, S.C. - Georgia Southern graduate student Marcela Montoya collected the first Eagle hat trick since 2015, while redshirt freshman Elis Nemtsov added a brace in the Eagles' 5-1 victory over Charleston Southern on Sunday afternoon at the CSU Soccer Field.

The goal flurry helped the Eagles (2-1-1) notch their second win in a row, while Charleston Southern (0-1) dropped its first match of the regular season. Georgia Southern will return to Charleston on Tuesday to take on The Citadel at 4 p.m.

"We had set a secondary goal to score three goals a game," Georgia Southern Head Women's Soccer Coach Adams said. "It's lofty, two is maybe more realistic, and three is a challenge. But so far, we seem to be up for the challenge. The efficiency was the biggest difference today, we made our chances count. Some of the games we're going to play in conference, or at Ole Miss, you won't get a lot of chances on the day, so you have to make the ones you get count."

Montoya notched the 13th hat trick in Georgia Southern women's soccer history and the first since Nora El-Shami scored three goals against Georgia State on November 11, 2015. Two of her tallies came in a three-goal first half for the Eagles. She opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a shot that deflected off of a defender into the net, then added a volley off of a Faith Phillips cross from the right side in the 27th minute for the 2-0 lead.

Nemtsov capped the first-half scoring in the 34th minute as she got a head on a service from Isabel Kopp for her second goal of the season, giving the Eagles the 3-0 advantage at the break.

In the second half, Montoya had a chance for the hat trick in the 54th minute as a handball in the box by Charleston Southern resulted in an Eagle penalty kick, but the Bucs' Jenna Moran made a diving save to keep the score 3-0. Charleston Southern then got a goal back in the 65th minute as Elizabeth Olsen headed home a corner kick to make it 3-1.

The Eagles then put the match away with two goals in a two-minute stretch. Nemtsov buried a cross from Smith Cathey, set up by a give-and-go with Kopp, in the 68th minute to make it 4-1. Then Nemtsov provided the assist on Montoya's hat trick tally in the 70th minute for the final 5-1 score.

"We really shared the ball today," Coach Chris Adams said. "Switching the point of attack and executing - that's what we worked on this week, and it showed. We had great crossing and great finishing, and all credit to the players. It was a total team effort. Every player who came off the bench was ready to go and kept our intensity high."

Georgia Southern held a 15-9 edge in shots on the day. Michaela English made three saves in 74 minutes in net for the Eagles, while Moran made four saves for Charleston Southern. The Bucs had six corner kicks, compared to three for the Eagles, and the home team was also whistled for seven fouls, compared to two for Georgia Southern.