Davidson 1, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, SC - In the Southern Conference opener for both teams, the host Davidson Wildcats scored once in the second half and then held on for a 1-0 triumph Saturday afternoon versus Wofford.
At 63:23, Marco Antunez sent a through ball to Robby Hoak, who found the back of the net behind Terrier keeper Joey Taylor for his fifth goal of the campaign.
Hoak led all players with four shots, while Antunez and Cass Baltz added three each to the Wildcat (6-3-1, 1-0 SoCon) attack which out-shot Wofford, 17-8.
Senior Carter Ladd paced the Terriers (3-4-2, 0-1 SoCon) tied with Jesus Arroyo-Peco and Brandon Lowery for the team lead with two shots apiece.
Wildcat goalkeeper Ben Ashton stopped two shots for the shutout, while Taylor collected five saves.
College of Charleston 3, Appalachian State 1
MOUNT PLEASANT, SC - The College of Charleston opened its 2005 Southern Conference season with a 3-1 victory over Appalachian State on Saturday in men's soccer action at Patriot's Point Field.
The win gives the Cougars a record of 5-3-2 on the season with a 1-0 record in the SoCon. Appalachian State stands at 4-2-1 and 0-1-1.
Grant Guthrie, Scott Milroth and Miles Alden-Dunn scored the goals for CofC with the Mountaineers getting their lone goal from Tate Parrish. Jeremy Gold earned two assists for the Cougars in the victory.
CofC made 13 shots on goal while ASU managed only six. Both teams had three corner kicks with ASU's George Nagle earning five saves and CofC's Hunter Gilstrap notching two.
Guthrie broke the scoreless tie just inside 14 minute mark on a deflected ball from ASU's Nagle. The Mountaineers tied the game at the 41:17 mark with a goal from Parrish. J.T. LaBruyere earned the assist for ASU on the play.
The second half saw Milroth break the 1-1 tie with a goal to give the Cougars the lead. Gold earned the assist on the play at the 76:14 mark. Alden-Dunn added the insurance goal in the 87th minute on another assist by Gold.
Elon 1, Furman 0, 2OT
Greenville, SC - Kiki Willis scored his seventh goal of the season with just under three minutes remaining in the second overtime as Elon defeated Furman 1-0 on Saturday night.
Furman outshot the Phoenix 19-7 and held a 7-0 advantage in corner kicks, but the Paladins were not able to finish their scoring chances.
After back and forth play in the midfield over the first 20 minutes, Furman began attacking the Elon goal. A Josh Villalobos cross was collected in the penalty box by Shea Salinas. Salinas played the ball back to an oncoming Eliot Paschalis, whose first touch shot from 15 yards was saved by Taylor Saxe.
Paschalis led the Paladin attack again in the 26th minute. A Paschalis cross into the box was headed to the near post by Salinas, but the shot was again saved by Saxe.
A half-volleyed shot from Dominic Cianciarulo from 22 yards out rolled just wide of the far post and a diving Saxe.
Furman threatened again in the 37th minute off a set piece. Rhett Abraham's free kick found Salinas at the top of the box. Salinas' first touch found an unmarked Robert Hunter at the back post; however Hunter's point-blank shot sailed just over the crossbar.
Hunter's shot as the first half expired was collected by Saxe, ending the scoreless period.
Elon threatened in the 71st minute as Kiki Willis' shot from inside the six-yard box was blocked by a Furman defender.
The two teams play to the end of regulation in a scoreless tie.
Elon nearly ended the match in the 94th minute as a Brett Paschell sent a cross into the Furman penalty area. John Juchno got his head to the ball, and looked to have scored the game-winner, however the ball was just wide of the far post. Paschalis hammered a header wide of goal in the 97th minute off a Villalobos corner kick.
Paschell hit a well-struck ball from 20 yards out in the 99th minute that rose above the crossbar.
Salinas nearly put the Paladins ahead just seconds later with a shot from 12 yards out that was just high and wide of the Elon goal.
Elon netted the game-winner at the 107:12 mark as Willis scored his seventh goal of the year. Willis won the ball with his back to the goal, turned on his defender and sent a low-rolling shot from 18 yards out that was just out of the reach of a sprawling Bryan Amos.
With the win, Elon improves to 5-4-2 overall, 1-0-1 in the Southern Conference. Furman drops to 2-4-4 overall, 0-1-0 in conference action.
UNC Greensboro 5, Georgia Southern 3
GREENSBORO, NC ? Hermann Award candidate Scott Jones recorded a career-high three assists and Michael FitzGerald scored twice as UNC Greensboro jumped out to a comfortable lead and had to hold on late for a 5-3 win over Georgia Southern in the Southern Conference men’s soccer opener for both teams.
With the win, UNCG (6-3-0, 1-0-0) is now unbeaten in its last nine and 17 out of 18 SoCon regular season matches. The nine-game unbeaten string dates back to October 2003.
In a match-up of two of the top offense in the nation this season, UNCG jumped out to three-goal lead midway early in the second half and looked to be cruising to victory before Georgia Southern got its engines firing on all pistons. The Spartans, ranked 14th in the country in goals per game, took a 1-0 lead on Jokull Elisabetarson’s tally off Jones’ first assist of the night at 34:37.
The score remained that way until the opening minutes of what would be a wild second half. FitzGerald, a redshirt junior from Wilmington, NC, scored his first of the season just 4:26 into the second half and freshman Thomas Campbell stole an errant pass and deposited it into the net for his second goal of year just 2:13 later to give UNCG a 3-0 lead.
After UNCG keeper Jay Benfield came out of the game with 30 minutes to play, Georgia Southern, the 15th ranked offense in the country, got things rolling. Stephen Jensen lofted a ball on a free kick into the box, the rebound came out of a crowd and Patrick O’Brien blasted it into the net from 15 yards out to get the Eagles (5-3-1, 0-1-0) on the scoreboard.
Then, at 72:11, UNCG’s second keeper Chad Dickerson committed a foul when he pushed a Georgia Southern player while chasing a loose ball in the box. The resulting penalty kick was scored by Lawrence Smith to make it a one-goal game.
UNCG made it a two-goal game again when Jones found FitzGerald with a through ball in the box and he scored with it for his second tally of the night at 75:32. However, just 66 seconds later, a UNCG defensive breakdown provided Scott DeVault with a wide-open backside of the box and a shot from 15 yards out rolled into the net to make it 4-3.
But Hermann Award candidate Randi Patterson put the game away for good at 86:12 when Jones played another through ball and Patterson chased it down in the box, made a fake to his left and went to the right for an open-net tally. The goal was his ninth of the season for the junior from Hackensack, NJ, and the 39th of his career moving him ahead of Eddie Radwanski and into ninth place on UNCG’s all-time goal scoring list.
With the three assists on Saturday night, Jones, a junior from Dallas, TX now has 27 in his career, which puts him into a tie for eighth all-time at UNCG along with Kenny Bundy (1999-2002) and Mike Sweeney (1981-83).