LAKEWOOD, NJ (Oct. 8, 2024) - Georgian Court Men's Soccer keeps on winning. They picked up their sixth straight Tuesday afternoon defeating Wilmington in a one-goal match, 3-2. The win pushes GCU to 6-4-1 on the year and 4-1 in the CACC.

How it Happened
• Play was pretty even most of the way through. Both teams liked to chip and chase the ball down, which meant a lot of open play.
• The Lions led in total shots 15-12 and shots on goal, 7-4.
• That style of play did hurt the Lions a bit though who were whistled for 10 offsides calls.
• In the corners, Wilmington generated just one more chance, 8-7. The Lions took five in the first half and Wilmington five in the second.
• The Wildcats were called for two more common fouls, 10-8. Yellow cards saw five on Wilmington, three on GCU and seven of eight in the second half.
• After an uncharacteristically slowish start for GCU, they turned it on shortly after the 15th minute. Georgian Court was able to get runs behind the Wildcat defense. Svante Haakansson fed Gijs van Eif who had a free look at the goal and didn't miss for the game's first tally.
• Nearly two minutes later, GCU almost made it 2-0. Vitor Antelo got a head on the ball inside the box, but Wildcat keeper got a hand on it and kissed it off the post to keep it out. 
• Georgian Court kept the pressure on looking to make it a two-goal lead, but it was the Wildcats who scored next. Some tic-tac-toe passing ended with Jeremie Saint-Marc hitting Theo Faillon who knotted the game at one in the 34th minute.
• Just six minutes later though, the Lions did it again. Mikey Mallon sprung the Lions who had two alone with the keeper. This time, van Eif paid it back, passing across to Haakansson to get the lead back. 
• Georgian Court got the two-goal lead they were looking for early in the second half. A missed touch by a Wilmington defender saw Mallon behind everyone. The Wildcat keeper came out high and Mallon chipped it over his head from 40 yards out and into the net for a 3-1 lead.
• Key moment in the game as the Wildcats were looking to get within one. Wilmington had a runner in behind Ayendi Batista, but Tim Wilk came across to tackle the ball harmlessly out of play.
• The Wildcats eventually did though cut the lead down to one. Matthew Yi hit Jhamaleek Porter among a cluster in the box and he cut it to one, 3-2 with 23 minutes left to play.
• Things got chippy from there with five yellow cards after the goal. That was only one fewer than the six total shots the rest of the way.
• One was from Haakansson who nearly had a brace, but Charlie Phillips made a big stop. 
• Batista also had one more save and the Lions defense held strong for the one-goal win.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Mikey Mallon was all over the pitch with a goal and an assist on four shots.
• Svante Haakansson also picked up a goal and an assist on three shots, two on net.
• Gijs van Eif made it three Lions with a goal and an assist.
• Ayendi Batista made two saves in goal.

For the Wildcats
• Jhamaleek Porter scored on two shots.
• Theo Faillon scored in the first half.
• Matthew Yi and Jeremie Saint-Marc each tallied an assist.
• Charlie Phillips made four saves.

News and Notes
• Georgian Court defeated Wilmington at home for the first time since 2017.
• The Lions are now 5-7-1 all-time and 5-3-1 in their last nine games.
• Alessandro Cavallini passed 1500 minutes played and Robbie Tapp 2000.
• Gijs van Eif scored three points and enters the Lions all-time top-10 for single season and career points. His goal also puts him in a tie for sixth in Lions history for a career and single-season.
• Ryan Lee played in his 60th career game.
• The Lions have now won six in a row for the first time since 2021.

Up Next
• Georgian Court will take on Bloomfield Saturday, Oct. 12 with a 12 pm kickoff. The game is the Lions Go 4 the Goal Cancer Awareness Day.