2014 MEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET (PDF)

Statesboro, Ga. – The No. 1 seed Hartwick Hawks advanced to the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Championship final behind a 2-0 victory against No. 5 seed Appalachian State on Friday evening at Eagle Field.

The Hawks will play the winner of the late game on Friday night between No. 2 seed Georgia State and No. 3 seed Georgia Southern. Hartwick improved to 5-9-4 on the season with the win.

The match went into halftime scoreless after both teams put one shot on goal apiece in the first half. Hartwick broke the scoring open in the 67th minute when junior midfielder David Styles rushed down the left side of the field and held off Appalachian State defenders on his run. Styles tracked back before finding junior defender Ross MacKinnon cutting inside the 18-yard box on the left side. MacKinnon hit a left-footed cross towards the middle which found the head of a diving sophomore midfielder Mike Rood.

Rood’s goal, his fourth of the season, put the Hawks up 1-0 before senior midfielder Jhevaughn Beckford iced the game with a spinning right-footed strike into the left side of the net. Senior midfielder Chris Walter snuck a pass to Beckford who corralled the deflected pass and rifled a shot past Appalachian State goalkeeper Paul West.

West finished the match with three saves and took the loss as Appalachian State fell to 7-8-3 to finish the year.

A live stream of all matches of the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Championship is available on SunBeltSports.org. All matches will be available free of charge.

The 2014 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Championship final is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 16, at 1:00 p.m. ET and will be available for viewing on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.