On Tuesday night, the Georgia Southern men’s soccer team topped the Stetson Hatters 2-1 in an action-packed game with a special theme: a pink out in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Students and spectators wore pink in support, and free pink cotton candy was given out while supplies lasted.

With the win, the Eagles moved back to a .500 record at 7-7 on the season.

First Half

The first half was mainly dominated by the Georgia Southern offense, the Eagles outshooting the Hatters 12-1. There were also many set plays on the Eagles’ offensive side, with seven corner kicks in the first half alone.

There was slight tension, fouls coming from both teams – the Eagles with seven and the Hatters with five. Although the Eagles were pushing intensely offensively, the half ended with a score of 0-0.

Second Half

The Eagles continued to come out strong in the second half and continued to press their offense, again outshooting the Hatters 10-4.

It wasn’t until late in the second half that senior forward Blake Wilson put the Eagles on the board in the 72nd minute with a turnaround shot from the side split in between a pair of defenders, but their lead didn’t last for long.

On a set play only three minutes later, Stetson’s Eyal Cohel put a free kick from 23 yards out into the back of the net in the 75th minute. The Eagles didn’t let that setback slow them down.

Two minutes later freshman midfielder Aldair Cortes drove the ball up the left side, found fellow freshman forward Jack Rittmeyer at the top of the box, who then returned it back to Cortes to complete a give-and-go inside the box, and a shot from Cortes that finished in the back of the net.

Analysis

This was one of the best performances the men’s team has shown all year: beating a team on a four-win streak, and putting 22 shots up on them at that opposed to the five the Hatters got off. The goalkeeper for the Eagles, Robert Flott, recorded his second shutout of the season with two saves in the game. Georgia Southern also earned more fouls, totaling 15 at the end of the game, and Stetson had only 8.

The men’s soccer team’s next match up will be on Saturday, Oct. 28 when they will be hosting Howard at 7 P.M. It will also be Senior Day and the Eagles will be recognizing the team’s seniors in a pre-game ceremony.