FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. – The Erskine College men's soccer team (2-4, 2-3 CC) defeated Emmanuel University (2-3-2, 1-3-1 CC) by a score of 2-1 at the Stephen Lee Complex on Tuesday.

THE ESSENTIALS 
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HOW IT HAPPENED
In the Fleet's first game action in two weeks, Erskine traveled to a divisional foe for a mid-week battle. The Fleet were forced to do a lot of defending in the opening stages, but the game remained scoreless. Then, in the 12th minute, Maximus Moriarty assisted a Leon Bird goal to open the scoring. Emmanuel responded with an equalizer in the 19th minute, but Bird found the back of the net again, this time from a Bailey Hall assist, and Erskine had regained the lead in the 28th minute. The score remained 2-1 at the half, and although the Fleet didn't see much of the ball in the second half, they limited the Lions' scoring chances and saw out a hard-earned road conference win.

THE PLAYER
Junior midfielder Leon Bird played 83 minutes and scored both Erskine goals, including what proved to be the game-winner in the 28th minute. That was Bird's second game-winning goal of the young season, as the New Zealand native also had a late winner against Mount Olive last month.

THE TEAM
Emmanuel held a narrow 6 to 3 advantage in shots on target, but the Fleet were far more clinical with their shots, and goalkeeper Eric Bronovitskiy totaled a game-high 5 saves.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Erskine returns home for a tall test this weekend against Converse University (5-1-1, 2-0-0 CC) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Valkryies were picked to finish second in the 2024 Conference Carolinas preseason poll.

MORE ABOUT THE ERSKINE COLLEGE FLYING FLEET

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