STATESBORO, Ga. — Appalachian State University men's soccer was unable to get the win in the regular-season finale at Georgia Southern, falling 3-1 to the Eagles on Saturday evening.
The Mountaineers (5-8-4) fell behind by two goals in the first half, and despite battling back to earn a goal late, couldn't overcome the Eagles (8-7-3) tough defense.
"Congratulations to Georgia Southern, they are a well-coached team," head coach Jason O'Keefe said. "Their team competed for the entire game and executed the game plan. We need to learn from this, recover and get back to work so we can be ready to go on Thursday in the Sun Belt tournament."
O'Keefe continued, "I am excited to see what we can do in the tournament. The league is very competitive and we will embrace this last opportunity we have to extend our season moving forward. There is no better time of the year."
The Black and Gold's lone goal came when a ball bounced loose into the box and senior Keegan Tanaka was able to drive it home for his second career goal in the 69th minute of the game.
Georgia Southern was able to score off unlucky bounces in the box in the 30th and 33rd minutes and off a well-placed cross in the 59th minute.
Leading the Mountaineers offensively was sophomore Ian Bennett and Tanaka, who each had two shots total, with Tanaka's second coming for the goal. Sophomore Daniel Avila had one shot on goal while freshman Graham Smalley had one shot total on the night.
Freshman Jake Agnew played the first 70-plus minute of the game, recording three saves, before senior Jaron Bradley entered the game to play the final 19. There was also one team save on the night.
The Mountaineers will now await the final seeding of the 2016 Sun Belt Championship tournament to see who they will face off with in the first round on Thursday, Nov. 10.
