Hurricanes Surrender Bookend Goals to No. 15 Francis Marion

Hurricanes Surrender Bookend Goals to No. 15 Francis Marion

AMERICUS, Ga. -- A goal in the sixth minute and another in the 85th proved to be enough to get the 15th-ranked Francis Marion University men's soccer team past Georgia Southwestern State University, 2-0, Saturday evening at Hurricane Field in a Peach Belt Conference match.

The Patriots won their fifth consecutive match to improve their record to 10-2-1 overall, 3-1 in the Peach Belt. GSW suffered its second straight loss to fall to 4-8 overall and remained scoreless in Peach Belt play, falling to 0-4. Francis Marion entered the contest ranked eighth in NCAA Division II in goals against average (0.556) and 19th in save percentage (0.811).

Javier Bello, Francis Marion's leading scorer, put the Patriots on the board early when he headed in a cross in the sixth minute for his sixth goal of the fall.

GSW trailed 1-0 at the break. The late score came when Jafet Santiago (3) was the beneficiary of a friendly deflection off his hard kick from outside the top of the 18-yard box.  

Francis Marion tallied 11 shots on goal in the match. The Hurricanes were held to three. The Patriots doubled GSW in corner kicks, 8-4. The Hurricanes were whistled for four more fouls than FMU, 10-6.

Sebastian Da Silva led GSW with two shots. Keeper Oneil Lewis saved nine.

Up Next: The Hurricanes travel to Lander University (8-3-2, 3-1 PBC) on Saturday for a 7 p.m. match.