Hempstead, N.Y. - Freshman defender Shaun Foster (Southport, England) scored his first career goal on a diving header off a free kick with 14:32 to play as the Hofstra Men's Soccer team defeated Georgia State 1-0 on Saturday evening at Hofstra Soccer Stadium.
With the win, the Pride improves to 3-4-2 on the year, and levels its record at 1-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Georgia State falls to 4-3-2 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
The game-winning goal was set up after a Georgia State foul near the right sideline. Freshman midfielder Chris Griebsch (Dessau-Rosslau, Germany) took the free kick and sent a high, bending cross towards the far post. Foster made a looping run around behind a swarm of players and got on the back end of the kick, laying out for a diving header inside the top of the six-yard box and beating goalkeeper Vincent Foermer.
Foster also came up big in the second half defensively on two occasions, as he stopped a pair of Georgia State counter-attacks with well-timed tackles just outside the top of the 18-yard box. The Panthers really only had one dangerous scoring chance in the game, as Yasser Majluf missed wide of the right post with just under 20 minutes to play from outside the edge of the box.
The Pride dominated play in the first half, outshooting Georgia State 7-1 overall, but just missed several chances off of corner kicks. Freshman defender Tyler Botte (North Babylon, N.Y.), who was seeing his first collegiate action, slid to get his foot on a cross at the top of the six-yard box, but missed just wide of the right post. Freshman midfielder Chris Grenzig (Nesconset, N.Y.) had a header inside the six-yard box that snapped just wide, and Griebsch cracked a volley from outside the box off a clearance that dipped just over the crossbar.
In addition, sophomore defender Stephan Barea (Levittown, N.Y.) had a header at the top of the six-yard box off a cross that he snapped down off the turf, but had it bounce over the crossbar. The Pride earned a free kick in the final 10 seconds of the first half, and senior forward Johannes Grahn (Tibro, Sweden) sent in a hard 25-yard shot that Foermer dove to stop in front of the right post with one second left on the clock.
The Pride was missing starting defenders Thomas Bekas (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and Erik Rengifo (Woodhaven, N.Y.), as well as starting midfielder Florian Popp (Bautzen, Germany) and midfielder Steven Ehrichs (Brentwood, N.Y.). The Pride started a line-up featuring five freshman and three sophomores in front of junior goalkeeper Greg Cumpstone (Killingworth, Conn.), but Cumpstone did not have to make a save to record the 15th shutout of his three-year career, second in Hofstra history.
The Pride finished with a 12-3 edge in shots and a 9-4 advantage on corner kicks. Foermer ended with three saves for the Panthers in the loss.
Hofstra will next be in action when it hosts Towson on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. contest, which will be televised on tape delay by the FiOS1 network.
