FLORENCE, South Carolina – The Embry Riddle men's soccer team sealed its first win of the season with an outstanding 5-2 victory against the Patriots of Francis Marion University on Saturday. The Eagles and the Patriots both bring their records to 1-2-1.

"To score five goals on the road is a fantastic and a positive result that the players fully deserved." said Coach Dave Gregson about tonight's win.  

Richard Dearle had a solid game with two saves from four Patriot shots on goal. Colin Archer also played a strong defensive game with many instances of putting himself between an attacker and the goal to prevent potential FMU scoring opportunities. Moriba Ballah, Daniel Gylfason, Felix Moller, and Joao Belmonte all tallied one assist, while Moller and Belmonte also had two shots each for the Eagles.
 
The Eagles came out strong in the first half scoring two goals within the first eight minutes.
 
Knutur Bjornsson scored the first goal of the night after he took the ball at the top of the box, dribbled past three Patriot defenders and took a clean shot to the left corner of the net in the fifth minute.
 
In the eighth minute, Pierre Hertin threw the ball back into play and it was deflected off  a Patriot defender.  FMU goalkeeper, Jordan LeGuyader, came off his line in an attempt to defend the ball, but Moller was quicker and fired the ball into the net to bring the score to 2-0.
 
The Patriots managed to bring the score to 2-1 in the 12^th minute. Dearle was defending a shot to the right side of the net, but FMU gained control of the ball and passed across the net for the chance to score into the unoccupied left side.

ERAU had a scoring opportunity with a penalty kick by Viktor Hafsteinsson but LeGuyader managed to get his hands on it and blocked the shot.
 
In the 43^rd minute, the Eagles' Birgir Bladursson received a pass from Gylfason and took a shot from the edge of the box that went above the goalkeeper's head and directly into the top-left corner of the net to bring the score for the first half to 3-1.
 
In the beginning of the second half, the Patriots came out with a strong defense and managed to keep the ball primarily on the Eagles' side of the field, but they could not produce a goal due to wide shots and saves by Dearle.
 
In the 57^th minute, Belmonte took a penalty kick that deflected off the far pole. James Pass took hold of the rebound and planted the ball into the back of the net to bring the score to 4-1.
 
The Patriots tried to get something started with a shot that managed to slip past Dearle's reach in the 62^nd minute, but were unable to score for the remainder of the game.
 
The Eagles converted on one final scoring opportunity in the 89^th minute when Moller passed the ball in front of the goal forcing LeGuyader out of the net to defend the ball. Belmonte beat LeGuyader to the ball and had a clean path to place the ball into the net, making the final score 5-2.
 
"We are improving with each game," said Gregson. "We have a lot of work to do on the training pitch next week but right now we can celebrate and enjoy our first win of the season."
 
The Eagles have their home opener Saturday, September 17 against Barry at 7 p.m. at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium.