ATLANTA—Despite a dominating effort in the first half, the Georgia State men’s soccer team dropped a narrow 3-2 contest in overtime to Evansville on Saturday night at the GSU Soccer Complex.

The Panthers took control of the match early on, dominating possession in the first half and outshooting Evansville (3-0) by a 10-1 margin. Freshman Conor Acheson scored his first career goal in a GSU uniform to put the Panthers (2-1) on top 1-0 in the 49^th minute. Classmate William Mellors-Blair assisted on the goal.

After Evansville took a 2-1 lead in the 77^th minute, Mellors-Blair once again keyed a game-tying goal in the dying minutes of regulation. Senior Alex Vivanco headed home a Mellors-Blair cross from the left side at the 88:28 mark to tie the match at two and force overtime. The goal was Vivanco’s team-leading third on the season and Mellors-Blair’s team-high fourth assist this year.

Evansville senior Jesse Sharp fired in a low shot 2:15 into the first overtime that beat GSU goalkeeper CJ Cochran and won the match for the Purple Aces. Cochran made two saves while earning his first loss of the season. Purple Aces goalkeeper Eric Teppen made six saves to earn the victory.

Evansville’s Nick Schroeder banged home a rebound off a shot from Alex Kapsalis in the 63^rd minute to tie the match at one. Mark Gonzalez then headed home a pass from Luis Romero to give Evansville a 2-1 lead at the 76:17 mark.

Georgia State finished the match with a 19-14 lead in shots and a 5-3 lead in corner kicks.

The loss is just the second at home in the last two seasons for Georgia State. The Panthers, led by third-year head coach Brett Surrency, hit the road for a rematch from the 2011 NCAA Tournament first round at Duke on Sept. 11.

Visit the men’s soccer page on www.GeorgiaStateSports.com leading up to the Sept. 11 match for a preview of the rematch in Durham, N.C.

www.GeorgiaStateSports.com