The Georgia Southern men's soccer team defeated North Florida 4-1 on what turned out to be a historic night (September 9th) for the Eagles. With the match originally scheduled to be in Jacksonville, the fans at Bo PItts Field were treated to a show.
The offensive showcase started in the 18th minute where Ricky Louis played a ball to a running Harry Dale in the right corner, then a nifty pass from Dale found Ryan Holmes with a clean one-time shot in the corner of the net to give the Eagles an early 1-0 lead. The shots were tied at five each at the halftime break, with the Ospreys having a favorably wide margin on both corner kicks and fouls.
Just 16 minutes after the second half whistle, Louis made a run to inside the box where he was fouled by an Osprey for Ryan Holmes to mirror exactly what he did against Stetson and sink a penalty kick in the right upper ninety. Although now defensively-minded being up two scores, freshman Harvey Sarajian made a run from just past the midfield line all the way inside the box, dancing his way around two defenders as he would go on to score his first career goal with a rolling shot in the opposite corner of the nylon.
Just three minutes later, the Eagles found themselves in the box again as after Dale just missed on a shot that hit the post, Holmes snuck his way to the ball and finished a strike for a hat trick on the night and to put Georgia Southern up 4-0. However, the Ospreys quick pace of play for the remainder of the match finally got the best of the Eagles as Luc Granitur scored in the 86th minute to wipe away the clean sheet for the Eagles. However, Georgia Southern comes away with the 4-1 win and move to now 3-0-1 on the season.
Both teams peppered the goal as the Eagles had 16 shots to the Ospreys 15, with nine on target for the home side and four for the visiting Ospreys. North Florida lived at the corner flag on the night, taking 11 corners to just two for the Eagles and 21 fouls were called on the match, resulting in four yellow cards, three for UNF and one for the Eagles.
The Eagles have not scored four or more goals in a match since August 30, 2019 in a 4-2 win over UNC-Wilmington. For Holmes, the last Eagle to have a hat trick was Blake Wilson on August 26, 2016 in a 4-1 win over Houston Baptist and just the second since 1999. The win now marks three in a row for Georgia Southern, which has not been accomplished since 2017 and also marks the most win in a season since 2021.
The Eagles now have not lost in their opening four matches of the season for the first time in program history.
"It makes my life easier that we have a lot of different attacking options", says head coach Lee Squires. "It's a new group, so it took a little time to get going, but we've scored multiple goals in the past few matches. The boys are working hard and trusting the process, and the young guys are coming in with no fear and a great attitude and ruthless when they get the opportunity."
Georgia Southern (3-0-1) next takes the field this coming Sunday, September 15th, against UAB with kickoff set for 7 PM at Bo Pitts Field.
