Clinton, S.C. (September 5, 2009) After being down 2-0 in the first half the Panthers battled back to even the score 2-2 but a late goal from Presbyterian proved to be the game-winner as Georgia State fell 3-2 on the road at Martin Stadium on Saturday late afternoon. The Panthers (1-1) will now turn its focus to the Mercer Bears, who visit Panthersville next Friday for Georgia State's home opener.

"We played a very poor first half and it was disappointing to be down 2-0 at half, but give credit to Presbyterian and how well disciplined they were," said Head Coach Kerem Daser.

After the Panthers trailed 2-0 at halftime, the team started the second half with a sense of urgency by attacking earlier against Presbyterian. In the 46^th minute freshman Alex Vivanco had an opportunity on goal firing a shot that went just high.

Georgia State cut the lead in the 51^st minute when freshman Gimel Gordon blew by the Presbyterian defenders down the right side of the field and crossed the ball inside the box where freshman Yasser Majluf placed a header into the back of the net to cut the Blue Hose lead to 2-1. Majluf continues his fast start to the season scoring in his second straight match to run his point streak to two.

The Panthers found the equalizer  in the 86^th minute when freshman Gimel Gordon raced down the right hand side and fired a shot that was deflected off a defender and into the net to tie the score 2-2. The ball was heading towards the middle when a Presbyterian defender knocked it into his own net.  

"Gimel (Gordon) had an outstanding game as a freshman and it was great to see Yasser (Majluf) score his second goal of the season as a freshman."

Presbyterian had some chances go their way in the first half of play to give them the lead early. In the 11^th minute after a foul from the Panthers set up Presbyterian for a free kick outside the box. Sophomore Lewis Makin took the free kick and fired it towards the goal receiving a header from sophomore Michael Czulinski who beat the Georgia State keeper freshman Vincent Foermer to give the Blue Hose an early 1-0 lead.

In the 40^th minute after a Georgia State foul occurred inside the box the Blue Hose were awarded a penalty kick. Senior Paul Jackson took the kick and scored in the right corner of the net to make the score 2-0 Presbyterian.

Georgia State did come away for three breakaway chances in the match with one in the first half and two in the second but came away with nothing thanks to great saves from Presbyterian goalie Neal.

"Their goal keeper had an excellent game in stopping three breakaway saves,one in the first half and two in the second," Daser said.

Georgia State had a couple of chances in first half when senior Stephan Minyono was attacking and blasted a shot that was saved by Presbyterian goal keeper James Neal.  The Panthers finished the half with six shots.

Coach Daser was pleased to see how his team responded in the second half but there is plenty of work to be done this season.

"We played an outstanding second half and it was disappointing to give up the goal late in the second half. "We need to learn lessons from this match, you can't win games playing only one great half. This game experience will help us prepare for our conference schedule."

Senior Stephan Minyono finished the game with four shots including three on net for the Panthers striker. Freshman goal keeper Vincent Foermer finished the game with five saves including a couple of great stops to give Georgia State a chance to win.

The Panthers showed great poise to fight back in this contest but fell short on the Blue Hose late goal from Nico Fazio who received a pass from teammate Juan OCampo and Fazio finished the goal for the game winner.

Georgia State received solid efforts from its captains Joe Castaldo and Christopher Peacos who both continued to play pressure defense in the match.

Freshman Victor Nkhoma played his first collegiate action for the Panthers attempting a shot in the match and played solid mid field off the bench.

Georgia State returns home after a two game road trip to take on the Mercer Bears on Fri. Sept. 11 starting at 7 p.m.  This will be the first home game of the 2009 season for the Panthers and will look for plenty of crowd support next weekend.