MORROW, Ga. – A first half that saw a pair of late goals gave way to a second that saw a combined four scores as Clayton State (9-7-1, 4-5-0 PBC) powered past Flagler (7-9-1, 4-5-0 PBC) 4-2 in an NCAA Division II men's soccer game and Peach Belt quarterfinal on Tuesday, November 4.

For the first 44 minutes of the game, neither team could find the back of the net. After that, it was almost the complete opposite as sophomore forward Bilal Nakhli (Paris, France) fired one in for the Lakers at 44:24 but was quickly matched as the Saints Marco Padilla answered with his own unassisted score just 17 seconds later to tie it at 1-1.

After taking that score into the break, Nakhli delivered a corner kick straight to freshman defender Nick Hague (Sheffield, England) at 51:08, who proceeded to head it in for a 2-1 advantage. It would stay that way for the next 27 minutes before another barrage kicked off when Flagler's Jonny Cosgrove drove home a rebound to knot it at 2-2 with 78:44 gone by.

Not to be outdone, Laker junior midfielder Avery Shepard (Kennesaw, Ga.) responded by putting home the go-ahead goal at 80:20 when Nakhli notched his second assist of the night. With just a narrow 3-2 lead in what had become a very offensive minded contest, they would add one more seven minutes later as junior defender Nikola Gazibara (Belgrade, Serbia) took it himself to reach the final margin of 4-2.

Nakhli led the way for the Lakers with a goal and a pair of assists while Shepard, Hague and Gazibara delivered the other three goals. Senior goalkeeper Nick Punter played all 90 minutes and made 11 saves to earn the victory and round out the top performers.

Padilla and Cosgrove had the unassisted scores for the Saints while Lex Craggs went the distance in net, making six saves along with the four goals allowed.

Clayton State now advances to take on No. 1 seed and national No. 3 Young Harris (15-0-1, 9-0-0 PBC) in the semifinals. That game will take place at 11 a.m. in Augusta, Ga. on Friday, November 7.