Statesboro, Ga. --- The Georgia Southern men's soccer team fell 3-2 to Old Dominion (6-7-2, 2-5-1 SBC) this past Friday night, November 1st.

Both teams were explosively offensively early on, forcing an abundance of shots and trading opportunities, but gold finally struck for the Eagles when Zachary Martin found Joe O'Connor on a through ball. O'Connor exploded on a shot that was too powerful for the Monarch goalie to defend and dribbled into the net after a deflection. For O'Connor, it is the midfielder's second goal of his freshman season.

The halftime whistle saw both teams nearly even in all categories, with no team holding a more than two advantage or deficit in any category. Out of the break, both team supped their intensities knowing that this was a crucial match in the standings. However, just five minutes after resumption of play, ODU's Nicholas ALves scored his first goal of the season to even up the match. 

In a match full of offense, it would not take long for the Eagles to strike back. Just four minutes later, a shot just outside the box from Ty WIlson was deflected and sent the way of Matthew Dean. Dean took a few touches and danced around the left side of the box and drilled a shot that hit the opposite side netting to place the Eagles back on top. Once again, two freshman score on the night for Georgia Southern and was Dean's second goal of his collegiate career.

The Monarchs continued to ramp up the pressure as a Monarch shot in the 67th minute was saved, but dribbled slowly back towards the net where ODU's Timothy Ennin finished off the job. Now a tie game, the two teams traded blows and shots before the Monarchs delivered the winning goal in the 83rd minute off the foot of Micah Wayland.

The Eagles put up more shots with a margin of 14-11, with the Monarchs having five on target to the Eagles four. Each team had two saves and corner kicks, but it was an immensely whistle-heavy match. 25 fouls in total were called, with 14 of them coming against the Eagles. Additionally, nine yellow cards were issued with five on them on the side of Georgia Southern. It was the most yellow cards issued against Southern since September 19th of last season.

Georgia Southern (6-5-4, 2-4-2 SBC) has one more chance to put themselves in the conference tournament as they travel to South Carolina this upcoming Tuesday, November 5th. If the Eagles win, they clinch a conference tournament spot.