ATLANTA – The Coastal Carolina men's soccer team picked up another point in Sun Belt Conference play on Friday night as the Chanticleers battled to a 2-2 draw with Georgia State at the GSU Soccer stadium.

With the draw, CCU is now 3-3-4 overall and 0-0-3 in Sun Belt Conference play, while GSU is now 7-2-2 overall and 2-1-1 in conference action.

"I was really pleased and proud of how hard our guys fought tonight against a very good Georgia State team," head coach Shaun Docking said. "We created a lot of good chances tonight and I was very pleased with how well we played, especially in the first half. Georgia State came out a lot stronger than us in the second half, which you would expect of a very well coached program and team." 

"We continue to evolve and get better as a group," Docking continued. "And look forward to begin preparing for our next confernce game against South Carolina next weekend." 

Emile Rzepecki registered his first goal of the season when the senior connected off a pass from teammate Mael Couteau. Couteau picked up the free kick from Eythor Kjartansson to give Coastal a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.

Kjartansson continued dishing out assists when he sent a cross into the box that found the head of a diving Alvaro Garcia-Pascual, who notched his team-leading seventh goal of the season to give CCU a 2-0 lead in the 25th minute.

The Panthers cut the Chanticleers' lead in half in the 30th minute when Simon Carlson found the back of the net to make the score 2-1.

Georgia State wasted no time following the halftime break to level the score at 2-2 in the 48th minute.

Coastal's goalkeeper Joey Batrouni recorded massive back-to-back saves for the Chanticleers between the pipes to keep Georgia State from finding the advantage. Batrouni's stops came in the 65th and 68th minute, respectively.

Following the pair of stops, Bartrouni was replaced with redshirt freshman Randy Burkhardt in the 72nd minute after a collision with a Panther in the box.

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the second half, Coastal Carolina increased the offensive pressure as the Chanticleers fired off three consecutive shots. Garcia-Pascual's back-to-back shots were blocked before Marcello Jones fired a shot into the box that found the right side of the goal post and landed out of bounds.

The Panthers looked to tally the game-winner in the 86th minute, as Jack Hilton-Jones fired a shot into the net that Rzepecki headed and was able to clear over the crossbar.

CCU found the advantage in total shots 19-9, with eight shots on goal. GSU recorded seven corner kicks to the Chants' four while also finding a 6-2 advantage between the pipes.

The Chanticleers return home to the CCU Soccer Stadium to host in-state foe South Carolina in a Sun Belt Conference match on Friday, October 14, at 7 p.m. ET.

For complete coverage of CCU men's soccer, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMSoccer (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.