LAKEWOOD, NJ (Oct. 30, 2024) - Georgian Court found themselves in an unfamiliar position Wednesday afternoon against Goldey-Beacom - trailing early. The Lions surrendered the first goal, something they haven't done much of this season, but it didn't matter as they got one back to tie at the half and two more after the break for a 3-1 win. The win puts the Lions at 9-6-1 overall and 7-3 in the CACC.

How it Happened
• Goldey-Beacom held the ball for longer, but that didn't translate to many scoring opportunities.
• Despite possession at 58%-42% in favor of GBC, it was the Lions who had more shots on goal, 7-5. Goldey-Beacom took more total shots though, 13-11. 
• Staying onsides was a problem for both teams. Georgian Court was called off eight times and the Lightning six.
• Goldey-Beacom was whistled for 13 fouls and the Lions five. It was the Lions though booked with more yellow cards, 5-3.
• Early in the first half was a lot of passing in the midfield and not much action near either goal.
• Georgian Court did get a very early corner kick opportunity in the first minute, but no shot came from it.
• It was Goldey-Beacom who took the lead on a pedestrian looking play. A cross into the box looked harmless, but took a Lightning bounce and Ogun Unal was able to tap it home for the game's first goal.
• The Lions were stymied by the offsides calls in the minutes following the goal. Four times in a six minute span the Lions were called off and it looked like the score would remain 1-0 at the half.
• Jack Pollintine-Smith had other idea though. Maurice Engl sprung him with an outlet pass and Pollintine-Smith used his great speed to outrun two defenders and chipped one past the keeper who came out high, tying the game at one with less than 90 seconds to play in the half.
• Early in the second half, David Tuschmann looked like he might give GCU the lead, but the Lightning keeper came out to cut him off and made a desperation save to keep it 1-1.
• It didn't stay that way too long though. Eight minutes later, in the 58th minute, Engl picked up his second assist. This time his pass hit Alessandro Cavallini at the top of the box who took two steps in and shot wide left into the corner of the net to give the Lions their first lead.
• The Lightning were building pressure off that, looking for the equalizer. They were able to control possession for much of the rest of the half, but the Lion defense didn't break.
• In the 84th minute, Georgian Court got some insurance. Robbie Tapp sent a ball deep that was run down by Svante Haakansson. He sent it across to a wide open Gijs van Eif who directed it into the net with his head to put the game away.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Maurice Engl played all 90 minutes and picked up assists on each of the Lions first two goals.
• Jack Pollintine-Smith, Alessandro Cavallini and Gijs van Eif all had a goal on two shots.
• Robbie Tapp added an assist.
• Ayendi Batista made five saves in goal.

For the Lightning
• Ogun Unal scored the lone Lightning goal.
• Sam Ball and Emanuel Bustos had the assists.
• Jamel Yasin made four saves. 

News and Notes
• The win for the moment puts the Lions back in first place in the CACC standings. They're one point ahead of both Post and Felician, however Post has two more CACC games left to play to the Lions one.
• This is only the fourth time this season the Lions have failed to score first in a game and it's their second win when getting behind 1-0.
• Georgian Court takes the all-time series lead with the win, 5-4-2 and are 3-0-2 in their last five. 
• With his goal, Gijs van Eif continues to climb the GCU leaderboard. He's now tied for fourth all-time at GCU for single-season and career points and now has sole possession of the third most single-season goals with 12. 
• Ryan Lee surpassed 4,000 minutes played. 
• The assist for Robbie Tapp is the first career point for the senior.