GREENWOOD – The Lander men's soccer team had its potential on full display Wednesday night in front of the home Van Taylor Stadium crowd, knocking off No. 20 North Georgia 3-1, dealing the Nighthawks their first defeat of the 2026 season.
The Bearcats collected their first ranked win of the year while improving to 4-4-3, 3-2-2 PBC to leapfrog idle Clayton State for third in the conference standings at 11 points. UNG's 13 points are second in the PBC as they now carry a 7-1-5 overall record, 3-1-4 PBC.
Though the Bearcats didn't win the offensive battle in terms of shots, they were efficient in their opportunities: LU put 5 of 8 shots on goal and scored on 60% of those. Couple that with stellar goaltending from
Jack Ammann – who made seven saves in a full match – and the recipe was geared toward success.
Savvas Chionakis added his third goal of the year in the 29th minute to break the ice.
Dylan Colley intercepted a UNG clearance to set things in motion, and the ball found
Chad Haynes who set Chionakis up in the box for the goal.
But less than two minutes later, the Nighthawks produced a response and evened it back up at 1.
Important as that score was in the moment, an even more impactful sequence happened in the 35th minute when UNG's Rhys Shirley collected his second yellow-card. That eliminated him from the contest and forced the Nighthawks to play a man down the rest of the way.
The Bearcats soon capitalized in the 42nd minute to put themselves up 2-1. It appeared
Noa Herzi headed a corner-kick in for his first goal, but it glanced underneath the crossbar and didn't count. Lander regrouped,
Vidar Rydell made a defender miss with his fancy footwork, and he buried a left-footed shot to the bottom-right corner.
Ammann made a key save moments later to preserve the advantage before halftime.
Carson Graves later gave Chionakis a perfect through-ball in the 56th minute but Chionakis was denied in-deep by the UNG keeper.
Eight minutes after subbing in,
Orran Mushet made a run up the right wing and was on the receiving end of Haynes pass that provided him plenty of real estate to beat the Nighthawk keeper for a 3-1 lead in the 71st minute. It was Haynes' second assist of the night.
Ammann made one more save in the 86th minute to keep it a 3-1 final.
Next for Lander is a trip to Morrow, Ga., to face the Clayton State Lakers this Saturday (Oct. 11) at 3:30.
