BOILING SPRINGS --- Georgia Southern scored twice in the opening ten minutes, and held off a late second-half rally by Gardner-Webb to edge the Runnin' Bulldogs, 2-1, in both teams' season opener on Friday evening at Greene-Harbison Field, as Gardner-Webb freshman Jerome Roche (Salon-de-Provence, France) scored his first collegiate goal.

Georgia Southern (1-0) held a narrow 16-13 advantage in shots attempted when the full time whistle blew, edging Gardner-Webb (0-1) by a 9-7 margin in the first half and 7-6 in the second period. The Runnin' Bulldogs took six corners to the Eagles' four in the match, as Roche opened his collegiate account with an 82nd minute strike.

Roche found the back of the net for the first time in his Runnin' Bulldog career to lead the attack for Gardner-Webb, as Ali Al-Gashamy (Kristiansand, Norway) added an assist. Matthew Swan (Newport, South Wales, UK) made five saves between the pipes, as Craig Swaby (Ware, England) paced the Runnin' Bulldogs with three shots.

Emmanuel Raji led the way for Georgia Southern with a goal and an assist, as David Vargas Masis added a goal and Ethan LaPan chipped in an assist. Raji and Thor Sveinbjornsson each took four shots toward goal as Jack Falle made six saves.

Raji got the Eagles off to a flying start in the third minute, making a run onto a through ball by LaPan and tucking the finish into the bottom corner to give Georgia Southern an early 1-0 advantage. Masis doubled the lead to 2-0 in the 10th minute, slotting the finish into the far corner of a ball in behind by Raji.

The Runnin' Bulldogs came out firing in the second half, pushing forward in relentless pursuit of an answer goal through the opening 20 minutes of the period. Gardner-Webb would find it in the opening moments of the 82nd minute, when Roche ran onto a perfectly weighted ball by Al-Gashamy and buried the finish in the bottom corner to cut the lead to 2-1.

Patrick Gurser (Frankfurt, Germany) nearly sent the match into extra time in the 83rd minute, sending an effort just high of the bar before a last-gasp shot from distance by Alejandro Rivillas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) was handled by Falle to close out the night.

Gardner-Webb returns to action on Sunday, hosting Wofford at 4:00 p.m. at Greene-Harbison Field.