AMERICUS - Newberry College made the most of its scoring opportunities on Thursday afternoon at Hurricane Field and handed Georgia Southwestern a 3-1 loss in the men's soccer season opener for both schools.

GSW finished with a 9-7 shots on goal advantage and a 5-2 edge in corner kicks, but it was the Wolves who came up with the big plays.

Newberry wasted little punching in the first score as Mark Hook lofted a pass into the middle of the box in third minute that Claus Lehland headed perfectly into the top left corner of the goal.

The Wolves extended their lead to two goals in the 30th minute when Davis Brian launched a high, floating ball straight on from 35 yards out that caught the Hurricanes off guard and dropped in for the score.   

GSW cut the deficit in half at the 38:32 mark when junior Trevor Dempsey converted a penalty kick.

The Hurricanes trailed 2-1 at the halftime break.

Sterling Wendt scored the final goal of the match in the 75th minute for Newberry when he closed in on a hard ricochet off the right post and punched in the goal as GSW junior goalkeeper Joshua Swift had extended moments earlier to stop the header off the post.

Junior Silvio Polly led the GSW offense with seven shots in the match, three attempts on goal. Dempsey and freshman Dylan Marshall added three shots apiece. The Hurricanes fired 20 shots in the contest. Newberry took 15.

Swift turned away four shots. Brad Dixon stopped eight for the Wolves.

The Hurricanes return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Point University for a 7 p.m. non-conference match.