Presbyterian 3, Georgia Southern 2

CLINTON, S.C. – Georgia Southern’s men’s soccer team took a 2-1 lead early in the second half, but two goals sent Presbyterian College past the Eagles, 3-2 on Wednesday evening at PC’s Martin Stadium.

The Eagles were without the services of starters Drew Ruggles and Nick Lane for the match as graduate student Ciaran Fairman made his first start for the Eagles in central defense. Neal Bates also made his first start of the year in goal for the Eagles, replacing Jack Falle between the pipes.

The Blue Hose got the match’s opening goal in the 15th minute as a result of a free kick by Ignacio Monchetti. The foul by Fairman earned him a yellow card just outside the box on the far side. Monchetti hit an in-swinger which found the net for the Blue Hose’s fourth goal of the season.

Witt Carlisle produced the best scoring chance of the first half hour for the Eagles in the 24th minute with a breakaway attempt. The pass found Carlisle at the top of the box in stride and allowed the junior to take a point-blank range shot that was saved by the Blue Hose goalkeeper, denying the junior his third goal of the year.

With 8:55 left in the first half, sophomore David Vargas Masis scored his first goal of the season to level the teams at 1-1. He was freed on a breakaway by Reed Norton and dinked the ball over the keeper’s head into the net.

Just before the hour mark, the Eagles scored their second goal off the boot of a Chase Park. The Eagle build-up featured a cross that came to Emmanuel Raji at the far side of the 18-yard box. The freshman recycled the ball into the box, finding Hunter Norton at the far corner of the six-yard box, where the GSU captain took his shot. The save rebounded across the face of goal where a diving Park put toe to leather for his first career goal.

Five minutes later, Presbyterian leveled the score at 2-2 on a cross that found the Blue Hose captain in the danger area. Byron Quinatoa crossed the ball through the box and found Nico Fazio free for his first of the year.

With 10:34 remaining, the Blue Hose took a 3-2 lead as GSU’s goalkeeper was caught in no-man’s land, allowing PC to get an empty-net chance. The ball was played slowly toward goal, but a GSU defender’s unlucky touch on a clearance attempt allowed the ball to roll into the goal.

Overall, the Eagles ruled the attacking stats with 11 shots, six on goal, to Presbyterian’s six shots, four of which were on frame. GSU fell to 2-7-0 on the year while the Blue Hose improved to 2-7-0 in 2012.

Georgia Southern opens October with a trip to face North Carolina in the final nonconference game of the regular season on Tuesday. GSU opens league play on Saturday, Oct. 6, traveling to Davidson.