Eagles Pick Up First AAC Win on the Season!

Waleska, GA - The Eagles were back home on Saturday with an AAC matchup with the Koalas of Columbia College.  The Koalos brought in a respectful record at 4-2 and they looking to add another win before the weekend was over, however, it was the Eagles that would get the final strike near the end of the second half to put the game away, 2-1.

Columbia would actually possess the ball most of the first part of the first half, with several attacks going towards Eagles Goalkeeper, Elijah Clark. It would be the free-kick goal by midfielder, Rafael Pais, that would tie the game and change the atmosphere of the game. Pais hit around a twenty-five-yard strike that had the talented goalkeeper of Columbia mixed up and finding the back of the net for the Eagles. It was a beautiful shot that had a slight left-leaning curve that originally had the Koalas keeper moving toward the right of the goal.

For the remainder of the game, the Eagles would take the upper hand and punish the keeper with shot after shot, but the shots were typically saved or went wide of the goal.  The teams would take the 1-1 tie into the halftime break.

The second half had the Eagles again taking control of the game and constantly pressuring Colmubia's keeper.  Time after time, Columbia's goalkeeper had to make stretched-out saves to keep the game tied up, but the Eagles never gave up and continued to look for open spaces in the attack to get the perfect shot in attempts to get the win.  That shot would eventually come off the foot of midfielder, Maxime Correia. Correia received a pass out on the left flanks moving towards Isherwood Fieldhouse. He saw green turf in front of him with a Koala defender just steps behind trying to push Correia to the sides.  Correia beat the defender and ripped a 20-yard shot that hit the bottom part of the crossbar falling nicely on the inside of the net giving the Eagles the much-needed 2-1 lead.

In the final twelve minutes of play, the Eagles were still pushing trying to get one more for a little security, but nothing would go in for either of the teams ending the game at 2-1 Eagles.

Clark ended the game with 5 saves from 6 shots on goal as keeper for the Eagles. Clark and the backline for the Eagles are one of the better defenses in the AAC and they will always give the team a chance to win any game.

The Eagles will take this win into Wednesday's late afternoon game with CIU. CIU is always one of the more competitive teams in the AAC so it will be another tough game at Ken White. The Men's game is scheduled for 5:15 PM after the Women's team plays at 3 PM.