FLORENCE, S.C. – Freshman Robin Schittenhelm and junior Tom Gillette each scored twice and Francis Marion University withstood a second-half rally by Georgia Southwestern State University to claim a wild 7-3 Peach Belt Conference win, Saturday night (Oct. 20) in men’s soccer action.

Francis Marion picks up its first conference win and now stands 4-8-2 overall and 1-5-2 in the PBC.  The Patriots are in eighth place in the conference standings, the final tournament berth, with one PBC match remaining.  FMU plays a non-conference match against Anderson University on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. on Hartzler Field, before hosting Lander University on Oct. 27.

Francis Marion led 2-0 halftime before the teams exploded for eight second-half scores.  The Patriots led 4-0 with 31:44 remaining, but the Hurricanes (2-12-1, 1-8-0) scored three times in a span of 12 minutes to trim the deficit to 4-3.  The Patriots then scored three times in the final 8:08 to account for the four-goal margin.

The seven goals are the most scored by the Patriots in seven seasons dating back to an identical 7-3 win over Georgia Southwestern on Sept. 10, 2006.

On Saturday, FMU took a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute on an own goal that saw a Hurricane player deflect a Henrique Guitti corner kick into the goal.  The margin grew to 2-0 at the 23:50 mark when freshman Ryan Begg took a drop pass from Pascal Magiera and sent a 20-yard bending shot into the Hurricane goal.

In the second stanza, goals by Schittenhelm in the 52nd minute and Guitti in the 59th minute upped the advantage to 4-0.

Michael Corrigan began the Georgia Southwestern rally with a goal at 62:57 off an assist from David McManus.  McManus then fed Charlie Curran who buried a 40-yard blast into the netting at 66:41 to further trim the Patriot lead to 4-2. KleesBatner Loembet-Makaya then took a pass from Corrigan and scored on a 14-yard shot from the right side to cut the margin to 4-3 at the 74:38 mark.

Gillette stemmed the tide with an unassisted goal on a 19-yard shot at 81:52, and Schittenhelm followed with his second goal, off a chip pass from Joergen Tesdal, to up the margin back to 6-3 with less than five minutes remaining.  Gillette finished the scoring at 87:58 with a tap-in goal following a short cross from Alex Blandin.

FMU sophomore goalkeeper Logan Fisher finished with four saves, while Hurricane goalkeeper Cade Jones made six stops.

Francis Marion outshot Georgia Southwestern 17-14, and the Patriots led 7-4 in corner kicks.

Francis Marion Univ. (4-8-2, 1-5-2 PBC) def. Ga. Southwestern (2-12-1, 1-8-0 PBC) 7-3

Date: Oct 20, 2012  Attendance: 103
Weather: Mostly Clear, 72 degrees

Goals by period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Ga. Southwestern....  0  3 -  3
Francis Marion Univ.  2  5 -  7
 
SCORING SUMMARY:
1-0.   9:03 FMU OWN GOAL (unassisted) - Defender deflects in corner kick from Guitti
2-0.  23:50 FMU Ryan Begg (1) (Pascal Magiera) - 20-yard bending shot after drop pass from in box
3-0.  51:05 FMU Robin Schittenhelm (1) (Simon Nett;Henrique Guitti) - Consecutive headers off corner kick
4-0.  58:16 FMU Henrique Guitti (1) (Travis Bally;Robin Schittenhelm)
4-1.  62:57 GSWM Michael Corrigan (7) (David McManus)
4-2.  66:41 GSWM Charlie Curran (2) (David McManus) - 40-yard blast from straight-away
4-3.  74:38 GSWM K.B. Loembet-Makaya (2) (Michael Corrigan) - 14-yard shot from right angle
5-3.  81:52 FMU Tom Gillette (1) (unassisted) - 19-yard shot off loose ball
6-3.  85:19 FMU Robin Schittenhelm (2) (Joergen Tesdal) -  15-yard shot from left angle
7-3.  87:58 FMU Tom Gillette (2) (Alex Blandin) - Tap-in after short cross from left side

Shots: Ga. Southwestern 14, Francis Marion Univ. 17 ; Saves: Ga. Southwestern 7 (Cade Jones 6; TEAM 1), Francis Marion Univ. 4 (Logan Fisher 4)

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