The Georgia State men’s soccer team downed a scrappy Appalachian State team (3-5-6) 2-1 Saturday night in Decatur.
Head coach Brett Surrency said, “We were expecting a competitive game. We know they work really hard, and that’s kind of what they hang their hat on. After we scored our second goal, we took a step back and were never able to establish that rhythm again. But we were able to hold on and good teams can do that. At the end of the day we got the win, and that’s why we came here.”
The Panthers took control with two scores in the first half and were able to hold on for a tough victory.
Georgia State (7-7-1) jumped out to another early lead on a header by Stephen McGill in the 14th minute.
Freshman Aaron Jones got his fifth assist of the season on a free kick that hit the cross bar, which allowed a waiting McGill to get the header on the left side of the net.
The goal was McGill’s fourth of the season and it brought his point total to ten.
Georgia State senior midfielder Jamal Keene drilled in another score for the panthers in the 29th minute off of a cross by Eddie Wilding that was deflected by an Appalachian state defender.
The goal brought the Panthers’ lead to 2-0, and was Keene’s fourth of the season. Keene and McGill are tied for second in goals scored on the team.
Nearly a minute later, Appalachian State’s Stanley Broaden got free on a breakaway and scored his fifth goal of the season, making the score 2-1.
The shot was deflected by the panther’s charging goalkeeper CJ Cochran but it took a lofty bounce into the goal.
In what was a physical game, especially in the second half, there was a lot of shirt pulling and hooking and a few fouls.
Georgia State finished with 16 fouls, 11 of which came in the second half. The mountaineers tallied up eight on the evening.
“They did a good job disrupting our rhythm,” Surrency said. “We never got a rhythm going in the second half. We were just always on edge and that’s a credit to the way they played.”
A single yellow card was given to each team, one to Georgia State’s Caleb Kernan, and one to the Mountaineer’s midfielder Mason McCarter.
Both teams had only one corner kick and Georgia State shot 13 times to Appalachian State’s five.
The victory was Georgia State’s second in a row and their fifth consecutive home win. The panther’s home record improved to (5-1) on the season.
With three out of the four games remaining at home, the Panthers will aim to let the streak stay alive and finish with a near perfect home record this season.
