BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University men's soccer was unable to come back from a last-second, first-half goal, dropping a 1-0 decision to Georgia State on Saturday evening at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.
"Tonight was a tough result," head coach Jason O'Keefe said. "Credit Georgia State for they did what they needed to do to get a result. We will get back to work tomorrow and we'll get ready for two nonconference games and try to continue to learn from these experiences."
The team honored its six seniors prior to the game, recognizing Stephen Chapman, Donovan Japp, Jordan Melia, Ben Steen, Keegan Tanaka and Jaron Bradley.
The Mountaineers (4-7-3, 1-2-1 Sun Belt) dropped a backbreaking goal with 19 seconds left in the first half when the Panthers' (10-6, 2-1 Sun Belt) Hannes Burmeister fired one from the left side after making a break toward the ball.
The battle was mostly over the middle as both teams tried to find a mistake in the each other's defense. The first shot of the game wouldn't come for almost 29 minutes.
Aside from the early goal, the teams matched up well in the attack. GSU held the slight 7-6 advantage over Appalachian, but the Black and Gold were held without a shot on goal on the evening.
Leading the Mountaineers attack were seniors Melia Chapman. Melia had three shots on the night while Chapman had two. Rounding out the attack was another senior Steen who had a high kick off of a set piece early in the second half.
The Mountaineers return to action when they move to face Campbell on Tuesday, Oct. 25. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
