Men’s Soccer to face Duke in NCAA first round

            Men's Soccer will take on the Duke Blue Devils in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Nov. 17.

After a stellar CAA campaign, the NCAA announced on Monday that the Panthers had advanced.

          The men's team had their best season since joining the CAA in 2005, as they made it to the conference tournament and advanced to the semifinals last weekend.

The team, led by head coach Brett Surrency, posted a 12-6-1 season and qualified for the sixth seed in the CAA tournament hosted by James Madison.

          In the first match of the tournament, Georgia State faced a stout defense in the William & Mary Tribe, a team they had beat 1-0 in the regular season.

          The first half proved to be a defensive battle, but the Tribe went ahead early in the second

half, as Nicolas Abrigo scored on a penalty kick in the 50th minute. With a defense almost as good as Georgia State's, it looked as if the Tribe might be able to nurse the slim lead to victory, but that all changed 15 minutes later as All-Tournament sophomore Stephen McGill blasted a shot from 35 yards out into the upper left corner of the net. With the equalizer in the bag,

Georgia State found themselves in prime position to take the lead on a corner kick. Bo Stroup sent a lofted ball that Evan Scott met with his head to send past William & Mary's goal keeper, and that proved to be the difference.

        The win was Georgia State's first in a CAA tournament and sent them to the semifinals to play a rematch against Old Do- minion.

       The Panthers lost to the Monarchs in the regular season, and would lose again in the tournament, but not with a fight.

Again, the Panthers went down early, but fought back from two goals down to bring the score level after senior Ayokunle Lumpkin found the back of the net in the 62nd minute.

         The equalizer was short lived, as the Monarchs scored two more unanswered goals. De- fender Peter Vania gave the Panthers hope as he headed in a corner in the 87th minute, but Old Dominion put out any lingering embers by scoring again in the final minute.

         Although Georgia State went down to No. 18 Old Dominion, they proved to the NCAA that they deserved a spot in the tournament, and were rewarded with matchup against Duke.

          Duke is 10-7-3 on the season and was mentioned as a possible sleeper in the NCAA selection show. The overwhelming favorite to win the title is the University of North Carolina, but don't count out a CAA dark horse in James Madison or Old Dominion, and certainly don't count out the Panthers to make some waves of their own.