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AMERICUS – Approximately five minutes into the second half of the GSW Men’s Soccer Team’s match against Middle Georgia State, the Hurricanes maintained a 1-0 lead on a goal by freshman forward Lucas Bedleg before play was stopped due to lightning in the area. After a 30-minute delay, the match resumed and GSW caught lightning in a bottle, as Bedleg added two more goals for a hat trick (three goals scored) and junior midfielder Matteo Landais added a fourth to complete the Hurricanes’ 4-0 clean sheet (shutout) of Middle Georgia State on Wednesday, August 31 at Hurricane Field.

“I’m happy with the result. I think that we started really slow and I would have loved to have had that right off the jump so we could have seen some more guys play,” GSW Head Coach Eric Crawford said. “But I think at the end of the day, I’ll take any win we can get, so I’m very happy with the result.”

After a scoreless first half, Bedleg scored the first of his three goals in the 46^th minute off an assist from Matteo Landais. Not long thereafter, the game had to be suspended for 30 minutes due to lightning in the area. Once play resumed, however, the Hurricanes took the match by storm. In the 59^th minute, Landais gave GSW a 2-0 lead off an assist from senior center back Vincent Montoya. Four seconds later, the Hurricanes struck again as Bedleg netted the second of his three goals off an assist from senior forward Chris Salamatou, making the score 3-0 in favor of GSW.

However, the Hurricanes were still not done and neither was Bedleg. The freshman from Andelarrot, France scored his third goal of the match to put the finishing touches on a dominating GSW performance.

With the victory, GSW improves to 3-0 on the season and will try for its fourth straight victory when the Hurricanes travel down to Daytona Beach, FL on Saturday, September 3 to take on Embry-Riddle University. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

GSW will then open Peach Belt Conference play when they travel up the road to St. Augustine, FL to take on Flagler College on Wednesday, September 7. Kickoff for that match is scheduled for 7 p.m.