Georgia Southern 2, Davidson 1
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern men’s soccer team defeated Davidson 2-1 in the opening round of the Southern Conference tournament Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field.
The Eagles improve to 8-8-0 (4-3-0) after the first round win. The Davidson Wildcats fall to 4-14-1 (2-5-0).
The match was not an easy win. The Wildcats scored just seven minutes into the first half. Yannick Pilgrim got the goal off of a pass from Alex Caskey to make it 1-0.
Davidson appeared to be headed to the locker room with a lead, but the Eagles scored with 3:05 left in the half. Joe Madigan took a shot from the right side of the box and knocked it into the left corner of the net to tie the match 1-1.
Georgia Southern played a good second half and outshot Davidson eight to four. One of those eight shots found its way into the net to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. Austin Steele headed the ball into the net in the 58th minute of action. The header came off of a Madigan cross from outside the right side of the box. The goal was Steele’s second of the season. The other goal came in the regular season matchup with Davidson on November 1st.
Georgia Southern continued to attack even after getting a lead. Jon Cox had a shot on goal in the 79th minute, and Jarryd Nolette took a shot that sailed high two minutes later.
The Eagles also got two big saves from Joey Ralph in the 60th and 73rd minutes of play.
The Eagles advance to the second round against UNC Greensboro on Friday in Davidson, N.C. for the first time since 2006, when Georgia Southern lost 3-0 to UNC Greensboro in coach Kennedy’s first season.