Georgia Southern 2, James Madison 1

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Georgia Southern closed the 2013 regular season on a high note, taking the team’s second straight win, a 2-1 victory at James Madison. The Eagles close a week that included a win over No. 14 Furman on Tuesday and enter the SoCon tournament next weekend at UNCG with wins in four of their last five contests.

JMU went 1-0 up on 36 minutes when Josh Grant scored his seventh goal of the season from 10 yards out.

The Eagles responded immediately, scoring in the 39th minute when captain Hunter Norton got his sixth goal of the season. Hunter was fed by a through ball into the box by brother Reed Norton and finished from 12 yards out to put the Eagles back on level terms.

Just 11 minutes after the intermission, Jeremy Rector put the Eagles 2-1 up in the 56th minute. Rector volleyed a failed clearance from 17 yards into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.

Neal Bates tallied seven saves on 16 total shots from James Madison to close the regular season. Bates made a penalty save in the 65th minute that preserved the 2-1 advantage. The Eagle netminder guessed correctly and made the save.

With 102 total saves this season, Bates ranks ninth in single-season saves at Georgia Southern with the highest total since 2001. For his career, Bates ranks seventh all-time at GSU with 188 saves.

Next up for the Eagles is the 2013 SoCon tournament. The Eagles enter the tournament as the No. 6 seed and face third-seeded UNCG on Saturday at 7 p.m. The winner of that contest advances to the SoCon semifinals in Spartanburg, S.C., on Nov. 15.