ATLANTA – Behind two first-half goals, the Georgia State men's soccer team held on to beat Appalachian State, 2-1, on a cold Saturday night at the GSU Soccer Complex. The Panthers improve to 7-7-1 this season and have now won five straight matches at home.
“Good teams find ways to win games and I thought we did that tonight despite not playing our brand of soccer,” head coach Brett Surrency said after the physical match. “We lost our momentum in the first half after we scored the second goal. This is a young team and we were playing some good soccer to go up 2-0. Unfortunately, we had a bad sequence that led to their goal, but credit to Appalachian State. They raised their level to get back into it. In the second half we never got a chance to establish a rhythm.”
GSU grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute on Stephen McGill's fourth goal of the season. After an Appalachian State foul, Aaron Jones' free kick deflected off the crossbar and bounced just inside the six yard box. McGill beat the defense to the ball and headed it into the open net.
In the 29th minute, the Panthers doubled their lead after Jamal Keene scored for the fourth time this season. Eddie Wilding sent a cross into the box that was deflected by an Appalachian State defender. Then, Keene used an excellent first touch to get enough space to rip a shot into the top left corner past Mountaineer goalkeeper Danny Free.
“Jamal Keene and Stephen McGill both scored tonight and that is what your leaders are supposed to do: step up in big games,” Surrency said about the two captains.
One minute later, Appalachian State's Stanley Broaden got open on a break away. Broaden fired a shot that deflected off Panther keeper CJ Cochran and into the net to cut Georgia State's lead to 2-1. The goal was Broaden's fifth of the season.
At the half, GSU held the edge in shots (6-3) and Appalachian State took the only corner kick.
Georgia State went on the attack first in the second half in the 56th minute but Amiri Abraham's shot was high. The Mountaineers responded with an attack of their own in the 68th minute. Patrick Harrow's shot was on goal but Cochran made the save to protect GSU's 2-1 lead.
In the 72th minute, Cochran made another save on an attempt by Keegan Tanaka. The Panthers continued to attack over the match's final 10 minutes, forcing Free to make a pair of saves on shots by Cory Plasker and Aaron Jones. The Mountaineers were unable to create another scoring chance and Georgia State secured the 2-1 victory.
“We continue to fight,” said Surrency. “After our slow start to the season, anything that happens during a game we have already seen it. The players always keep their heads up. Obviously, we would like to be sharper for longer periods of the game. We came here to win tonight and we did.”
GSU's CJ Cochran earned the win to improve to 6-7-1 this season. He finished with two saves on five shots faced. Appalachian State's Danny Free falls to 3-5-6 after the loss. He recorded three saves on 13 shots faced.
The Panthers will return to the field on Tuesday, Oct. 29, when they host in-state rival Mercer at the GSU Soccer Complex. The match is set to kick off at 7 p.m. ET.
“I expect an incredible hard fought game. Mercer is known for playing incredibly hard,” said Surrency about GSU's next opponent. “We do not anticipate anything different. You throw out records when facing an in-state rival and you know it is going to be a battle. We will come ready to play good soccer and compete because Mercer will do that.”
