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Men's Soccer falls 5-0 to 15th-ranked Poly in season finale
By Matt Green
MARIETTA, Ga. -- 15th-ranked Southern Poly scored all five goals in the second half en route to a 5-0 victory over Shorter University in the regular season finale for both schools on Saturday afternoon in Marietta.
The Hornets finish the regular season with a 13-2-1 record and will occupy the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament after posting a 9-2-1 league mark.
The Hawks (7-10-1, 3-8-1) will miss out on postseason play and finish the season with a losing record for the first time since 2007. Shorter lost its last four matches of the season and went 2-6-1 since a 1-0 upset of then No. 5-ranked Belhaven on Sept. 30. Belhaven is the SSAC's No. 3 seed entering tournament play.
Shorter and Poly went into halftime scoreless, but the Hornets exploded for all five of their tallies in the final 45 minutes.
Poly scored less than a minute into the second to go up 1-0 and never looked back, compiling their highest single-game goal total of the season since a season opening 10-0 victory over Talladega (Ala.) on Aug. 22.
Emeka Maduka paced Poly with two goals and Jumol Harewood, Sean Grisham and Toren Thomas scored a goal apiece. Southern Poly improved to 4-1 all-time against the Hawks -- Poly's previous three victories over Shorter had all come by one goal.
Shorter took a defensive approach against Poly and was outshot 25-2. Shorter goalkeeper Ryan Edwards made seven saves on the day.
