Sept. 23, 2009

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. - Erkan Yildirim scored two goals in the second half, his first the game winner, to lead USC Upstate to a 3-1 victory over Georgia Southern in non-conference men's soccer action Wednesday night at County University Soccer Stadium.

Upstate improved to 2-4-0 on the year and will make the short trip to Clinton, S.C., to take on Presbyterian Saturday night at 7:00. Georgia Southern remained winless on the season and fell to 0-6-1. With the win, the Spartans improved to 26-16-1 all-time versus Southern Conference member schools and picked up their first victory over the Eagles in three contests.

"As difficult as it is to win games at the Division I level, we are excited for our players to see them get results from their efforts," said Upstate head coach Greg Hooks. "We talked before the game about how our strikers needed to score goals for us. I was happy to see Erkan (Yildirim) score two goals for us tonight and hopefully that will carry on to our next match. I also want to commend our defenders and Pat (Regna) for allowing us to stay in the game through their incredible efforts. I also want to commend Gary Lynch, our assistant coach. I don't know that there is a harder working assistant in the country and I am happy to see him see results from his hard work."

A spirited game saw two offenses looking for production find it in the first half. Upstate opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Timo Foerster played a shot into the box. The shot curved toward the goal and Maurice Beggs acted like he was going to make a play on the ball. Beggs' play may have thrown Georgia Southern keeper Zach Buckley off-balance and the shot curved into the right side of the net to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.

Georgia Southern scored the equalizer in the 33rd minute on a penalty kick. After a Georgia Southern player played the ball in the air on the right side of the box, two players collided, one from each team, and Georgia Southern was awarded a penalty kick. Danny Hall stepped up and grounded his shot into the left side of the box just beyond the outstretched arms of Upstate keeper Pat Regna.

Upstate and Georgia Southern were both able to create chances in the first half. The teams went into halftime tied with seven shots apiece, though the Spartans owned a large lead in corner kicks, taking five in the first half to the Eagles' none. Regna made five saves in the half to lead Upstate.

Upstate took the lead in the 73rd minute on a tremendous goal by Erkan Yildirim. Porter Massey played a long pass from the right side of the field about 10 yards behind the midfield stripe. Yildirim took the ball out of the air and pounded a shot from 30 yards out to the left of the keeper in the upper left 90 to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead.

Yildirim, though, was not done and scored his second goal of the game in the 88th minute. Isaiah Ferguson gained control of the ball 20 yards from the midfield line and started a 3-on-2 breakaway. He played a through ball to Yildirim at midfield and Yildirim beat one defender and pounded a shot from right to left to give Upstate a 3-1 lead in the 88th minute and seal the win. Upstate also benefitted from several solid defensive plays after taking the 2-1 lead as players blocked passes and headed away crosses to thwart any Georgia Southern scoring opportunities.

Georgia Southern pressured Upstate in the second half and took seven shots. However, Regna was forced to make just two saves to preserve the win. Regna finished the game with seven saves while facing 14 shots. Upstate took 12 shots in the game, placing eight on goal.