The Oglethorpe men's soccer team defeated the home-standing Rhodes Lynx Friday afternoon in Memphis, Tenn. The Petrels went ahead by two goals and then held on for the 2-1 victory. The victory improves the squad to 6-2-1, 2-0 in SAA play.

At the end of a tense first half in which the two teams were evenly matched, junior forward Carlos Gaston struck a huge blow for the Petrels in the 45th minute, around 30 seconds from halftime. He broke in alone on goal, had his initial shot saved, but followed up by collecting the rebound and blasting it past the goalkeeper into the upper-right corner of the net for the 1-0 Oglethorpe lead. It was his fourth goal of the season.

The Petrels continued to establish control of the game just on the other side of the halftime break, as well. In the 48th minute, senior midfielder Sean King received a feed from sophomore midfielder Nick Muntean and blasted his own shot into the upper-right corner for his second goal of the year. Suddenly, the Petrels had a 2-0 lead.

The Petrels then had to thwart numerous Rhodes attacks, as the home side tried desperately to get back into the game.. Rhodes scored a goal in the 86th minute, meaning the Petrels had to kill the final four minutes of the game off just a one-goal lead. They successfully did so, posting the 2-1 victory.

In addition to the goal, King put all four of his shots on frame for the day. Freshman goalkeeper Vaughn Moore recorded four saves and picked up the victory for the Petrels.

The Lynx actually outshot the Stormy Petrels on the day, 13-9. However, eight of Oglethorpe's nine shots were on target, while Rhodes put only six of their 13 on the goal frame. Rhodes also earned five corner kicks to Oglethorpe's two.

The Petrels face the back half of their only two-game SAA road trip on Sunday, when they travel further west to take on Hendrix in Conway, Ark. The game will get underway at approximately 3 p.m. Eastern time.