The Georgia State men’s soccer team defeated the No. 9 ranked Furman Paladins (10-2-2)
2-0 Wednesday night at home.
Head coach Brett Surrency said, “We believe in what we do. Furman’s having a great year, but we have a bunch of good young players. Consistency has been our problem this year, but I thought we played really well for two halves.”
The Panthers (6-7-1) got out to a quick start scoring their first goal 12 minutes into the first half.
Freshman forward Amiri Abraham scored on a long assist from midfielder Stephen McGill. Abraham scooted around Furman goalkeeper Sven Lissek after handling the long pass to score.
Abraham was not finished. He scored the Panther’s only other goal giving himself a total of five goals on the season and making him the team leader in goals.
His second goal of the game came in the 86 minute all but sealing the deal for the Panthers in only their fifth home game of the season.
Abraham said, “It always feels good to get a couple goals, but I think it was a great team effort honestly.”
Abraham got the pass from Andrew Weber and scored the header with heavy pressure from the Paladin defense.
Abraham said the team focused on controlling the game coming in and this first shutout is a great stepping stone for the team.
Panther goalkeeper CJ Cochran finished with one save on four shots while Furman’s Lissek had three saves on ten shots.
The Panthers ended the match with four corner kicks and six shots on goal while Furman ended with one corner kick and three shots on goal.
Georgia State’s defense was strong throughout and had possession for much of the game. Furman was not given many opportunities to score.
“It was a very organized defense from Michael Nwiloh and Conor Acheson,” Abraham said. “I really think they’re two big time leaders in the back that control our defense and let us know where we need to be.”
The win brings Georgia State to 4-1 at home on the season.
With four out of the five remaining games at home, Surrency and the Panthers are looking to finish out the season strong.
“Now we’ll have four or five games at home, and the guys get up for playing here. We’re excited,” Surrency said. “Hopefully the rest of the games can be as positive as tonight was.”
