Men’s Soccer Survives Late Scare to Outlast Georgia Southern

Saturday, September 8

Statesboro, Ga.

4:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

3-2-0

Georgia Southern

2-2-0

North Florida

Georgia Southern

Photo by: Todd Drexler

Men’s Soccer Survives Late Scare to Outlast Georgia Southern

9/8/2012 10:18:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (pdf)

STATESBORO, Ga. – The University of North Florida men's soccer team withstood a late flurry of goals to grab a 4-3 win at Georgia Southern on Saturday evening. The Ospreys jumped out to an early second half lead, but had to withstand a late barrage of goals to earn their third victory of the season.

Camilo Garcia's goal in the 87th minute proved to be the match-winner for the Ospreys, while Max McDaniel scored a pair of goals in the match. Mauricio Valderruten also scored his second goal of the season in the victory.

Goalkeeper Kyle Nasta earned his first start of his career. He worked all 90 minutes between the posts to pick up his second victory of the season. The freshman allowed three goals, but notched 10 saves for the Ospreys in the win.

Georgia Southern's Joe Hughes opened the scoring in the 14th minute, taking a pass from Nick Lane and rifling a shot in from 25 yards to put the Eagles up 1-0.

In the 22nd minute, however, Valderruten evened things up for the Ospreys. After receiving a short pass from Greg Crowell inside the six-yard line, Valderruten was able to poke home the equalizer and level the score at 1-1.

Just before halftime, McDaniel was able to give UNF the lead with a long-range shot of his own. McDaniel received a pass from Alex Morrell, took a touch and launched a shot from just over 25 yards to give the Ospreys a 2-1 lead in the 41st minute.

The second half saw no further scoring until the 74th minute, when McDaniel extended the Ospreys' advantage. Drew Bruce played McDaniel past the defense with a through ball and McDaniel was able to bury the breakaway shot to give UNF a 3-1 lead.

In the 83rd minute, Joe Hughes of Georgia Southern netted the first of three goals that would be scored in the final eight minutes of play. Hughes jumped on a UNF defensive error and fired in an open shot from the top of the box to cut the Eagles' deficit to 3-2.

Garcia answered the Eagles' goal shortly after, finishing Oscar Castillo's low cross in stride to put the Ospreys up 4-2 in the 87th minute.

Just 42 seconds later, however, Georgia Southern again tallied a goal to put a win in jeopardy for the Ospreys, when Reed Norton won the ball from a defender in the penalty area and buried a shot to make the score 4-3.

North Florida returns to action on Sept. 14, as the Ospreys open play in the UC Riverside Tournament against the host Highlanders. The match is slated for 11:00 p.m. (ET) / 8:00 p.m. (PT).