NORFOLK, Va. - Jason Purks netted a first half brace to lead Old Dominion men’s soccer to a bounce-back, 2-1 win over Georgia State on Wednesday night at the ODU Soccer Complex.
“It was a gutsy performance from the lads tonight,” said ODU Head Coach Tennant McVea. “We rode a little bit of pressure at the start of the second half, but I thought we closed the game out well. Three points is the biggest thing tonight, and we need to be on the hunt for more this weekend.”
ODU improves to 10-4 and 2-4 in the Sun Belt. With the win, Old Dominion moves ahead of GSU and Kentucky to claim eighth place in the conference. The Wildcats fell, 2-1 to Coastal Carolina tonight in Lexington.
ODU got on the board first in the seventh minute but had some drama to deal with in the opening 60 seconds. Fourth year midfielder Matthew Moffatt earned a yellow card for a dangerous challenge and the call went to VAR to determine whether the London, England native should see red. However, head referee Mark Remsa decided that the yellow was a justifiable decision and it did not need to be upgraded.
After getting away from having to play with 10 men for the rest of the game, ODU began finding momentum which led to its first goal. In the seventh minute, Jacopo Caprile launched a long throw to the top of the box, he found the head of Lewis Rourke who eased the ball toward Purks on the left wing. Purks got the ball on his left foot to rip a shot across goal, beating GSU’s (7-6-2, 1-4-1 SBC) Jackson Burrell in goal to take a 1-0 lead.
Purks notched his brace and scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 20th minute. Moffatt recorded an assist after working a ball hard and low through the middle of the Panthers’ defense to find the native of Oakwood, Ohio at the far post to ease the ball past Burrell to take a 2-0 lead.
Georgia State worked themselves back into the game and started to create some good chances. They got their reward for their effort in the 40th minute and were able to get a goal on the board. ODU’s Caprile clattered into GSU’s Damian Segura in the box. Remsa saw the play unfold and immediately pointed to the penalty spot, and after a short review the penalty was confirmed. GSU’s leading scorer, Virgil Dall’Agnol stepped up and fired towards the top right of the net to beat ODU’s Logan Bellina to make the score 2-1.
Neither side could find another goal in the match and the Monarchs outshot the Panthers, 9-4 in the second half. Sandro Rabarivony had the Panthers’ first attempt of the half go off target but Josmy Ngandola almost equalized the game in the 61st minute but Bellina was there to make the save. Joel Gonzalez had a crack two minutes later and fired his shot off the mark. Georgia State’s final shot came in the 89th minute from Brandon Graham but his attempt also went off the mark as the Monarchs defeated the Panthers, 2-1.
Old Dominion made three changes to the starting 11 who lost to UCF this past weekend. Notably, Bellina made his second career start in goal and played all 90 minutes. His first start came last season against Regent.
ODU ended the night with 16 shots to GSU’s seven. The Monarchs also had seven shots on goal while the Panthers had three attempts that were able to threaten Bellina. ODU and GSU both had four corner kicks each. Caprile, Vicini, Chapman, Dietze, Maldonado, and Rourke all played a full 90 minutes on the field. Purks finished the game with a team high six shots and two goals for four points. Rourke, Caprile, and Moffatt each registered one assist for one point.
Bellina made two saves and conceded one goal in 90 minutes and picked up the win in net while Burrell made five saves in 90 minutes.
UP NEXT:
ODU travels to Conway, South Carolina to battle Coastal Carolina on Sunday, October 25 at 6 p.m. with three more conference points on the line.