By Chris Riley

ROME--The Hawks fans came out in force Friday night to see the opening home game of the 2013 season for the Shorter Men's Soccer team as over 500 fans packed Ben Brady Field.  With help from Shorter's Office of Advancement, Shorter University Athletics, Bella Roma Grill and Aramark; Ben Brady field hosted the first ever 'Friday Night Futball' as spectators were able to eat dinner while catching the game. The expectant crowd were eventually rewarded with a 4-3 win for the Hawks, their third in a row in Gulf South Conference play.

The Hawks, though, got off to a rocky start after Delta State was awarded a free kick on the edge of the Shorter penalty area. The ball was fired into the wall, however, and a handball was called moving the resulting free kick ten yards closer. The resulting free kick was curled into the back of the net giving Delta State a 1-0 lead in just the fourth minute of the game. The rest of the second half continued in a scrappy fashion with neither team being able to conjure any real goal scoring opportunities.

After being reminded of the big crowd behind them during the half time break the Hawks came back out as a different team.  With the vast majority of the play coming in the Delta State half of the field Shorter looked to turn their dominance in possession into chances.

The first real opportunity of the half came when Ryan Horn cut in from the right flank onto his left foot only to see his strike come back off the post. Minutes later Horn again found himself in space, knocking the ball around the Delta State goalkeeper he appeared to be then brought down, though no penalty was given. Horn eventually got his reward when he met a low cross from Diego Gonzalez after he beat his man down the left hand side of the field and played a low ball into the box. Tying the game 1-1. 

With the momentum on their side and the score back level Shorter looked to find the winning goal, however a defensive mishap ended in a backpass beating goalkeeper Nicolas Ferrigno and being tapped in by the Delta State striker. It did not take Shorter long to pick themselves up again as Julian Kitkowski cut in from his right back position in the 25th minute of the second half; striking the ball against the post only to see it bounce back into the net off a defender.

After working their way back into the game for the second time the Hawks were again deflated as Delta State was awarded a soft penalty. Down 3-2 with just 15 minutes left in the game the Hawks resilience was tested yet again, but as they have done so many times already this season the team bounced back with two late goals first from the penalty spot by Irvin Espinal and then by Robert Ochieng who scored the winner with 7 minutes left in the game.

The scoreline reflected Shorter's second half dominance as they outshot Delta State 18-11 in the game. With 10 coming int the second frame.

"Massive win for this program! It's significant when you are able to overcome adversities within a game and produce comeback wins, but coming back three times; it's quite special," head coach Paulo Neto notes on the win.

"This one is especially dedicated to the Shorter community for supporting our first ever 'Friday Night Futbol'. Hopefully this is the first of many," he goes on to say. "A special thanks to Bert Epting, the Advancement Office, and our sponsors Bella Roma and Team 360."

The Hawks will return to action on Sunday, September 22, as they play another home Gulf South Conference game against Christian Brothers University at 4pm.