Appalachian State 3, Mercer 0
October 17, 2006 - BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State University men’s soccer handily defeated visiting Mercer University, 3-0, in a non-conference match at Kidd Brewer Stadium Tuesday afternoon. All three Mountaineer goals and assists came from different players on the rain-soaked pitch.
Appalachian controlled much of the match, despite only holding a 10-8 advantage in shots. The Mountaineers got on the board in the 14th minute on Sean Sassano’s (Gastonia, N.C.) fourth goal of the season. Sassano streaked towards the far post and put away an open shot off a cross from Cameron McCarthy (Auckland, New Zealand) from the near side of the pitch.
The score remained 1-0 until the 59th minute when Arie Muniz (Spring, Texas) booted in a deflected save. Happy Hall (Nassau, The Bahamas) registered the original shot on goal to earn the assist. The goal was Muniz’s second in as many matches and sixth on the season, making him the team leader in goals.
Muniz’s tenure atop the team’s goal category was short-lived though as Juan Obregon (Castle Rock, Colo.) recorded his sixth goal of the season in the 61st minute. Obregon took a pass from Corey Lugger (Irmo, S.C.) along the far side and rocketed a shot on goal. Obregon’s ball deflected off the crossbar, past the diving keeper and into the far netting. The helper was Lugger’s conference-leading 10th of the season.
Obregon led all players in shots with five, while Vincente Arze recorded three for Mercer. Greg Walters (Raleigh, N.C.) successfully stopped all three shots he faced in goal. David Bird also recorded three saves in the losing effort.
With the win, ASU improves to 8-5-2 overall while the Bears fall to 3-10-2. The Mountaineers will return to action on Saturday, October 21 when they host the College of Charleston in a pivotal Southern Conference match at 3 p.m. The Cougars are in second place in the SoCon with 12 points. The Apps trail Furman for fourth place by two-points and are in the hunt for one of the prized first-round home tournament games awarded to the top-four seeds.
Virginia Tech 4, Davidson 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. Patrick Nyarko netted a goal and set up two others to lead the 19th ranked Virginia Tech Hokies to a 4-2 victory over Davidson in men?s soccer action on a rainy Tuesday evening at Alumni Stadium. The win was the fifth straight for the visiting Hokies as they improve to 10-4-1 overall while the Wildcats drop to 5-11-1.
“We didn?t have enough tools to work with,” said Davidson head coach Matt Spear. “Missing some players and some other important players not playing their best didn’t help us tonight when we had to play great soccer from start to finish to beat a quality team like Virginia Tech.”
Davidson had a great scoring chance in just the second minute of play when Tom Lavan played a cross into the box from the left side to Robby Hoak, but his header attempt was saved by a diving Drew Czekanski.
Unlike the Wildcats, Virginia Tech was able to capitalize on its first attempt to grab an early 1-0 advantage at the 3:52 mark. Sophomore forward Nyarko headed home an uncontested Charlie Campbell corner kick for his 13th strike of the 2006 campaign, which ranks second in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Lavan wasted little time providing the Wildcats with an equalizer when he received a Cass Baltz long pass in stride and ripped a shot past the outstretched arms of Czekanski into the top left corner of the net from just inside 18-yard box. The Omaha, Neb., native's 12th minute strike was his team-leading fifth score of the season.
With just 21 seconds left in the opening period, Virginia Tech broke the 1-1 tie with a goal by Kevin McFadden. The 45th minute score was set up when Nyarko got by the Davidson defense on the left side and centered a ball to Ben Nason, who played a square ball a streaking McFadden for his first career score.
“We ended the first half very poorly, which gave them the burst of momentum they needed to play a very strong second period.”
Virginia Tech put the game out of reach with a pair of second half goals that came almost five minutes a part. The first of the two scores that came between the 61st and 66th minutes was off a through ball from Nyarko to Marcus Reed for his sixth goal this year. Nason added the other as a result of a four-on-one counter attack following a Davidson corner kick to make it a 4-1 contest.
The Wildcats’ Machel Turner provided the game's final goal with exactly 14 minutes left in the contest. Similar to his first assist earlier in the match, Baltz sent a long ball into the box from just shy of midfield to Turner, who turned and drove a left footed shot by Virginia Tech keeper Brendan Dunn, who replaced Czekanski in the 76th minute.
The Hokies held Davidson to just one shot in the second half to finish the contest with a commanding 13-5 advantage in attempts.
Davidson will conclude its home slate and regular season with a 4 p.m. Senior Day match against Georgia Southern on Saturday, Oct. 21. The Hokies return to action Friday when they entertain in-state/conference rival No. 4 Virginia at 7:30 p.m.
North Florida 3, Georgia Southern 2
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? North Florida’s Shareef Rajkumar notched the game-winning goal in overtime, Tuesday night, lifting the Ospreys over Georgia Southern, 3-2, in a non-conference competition.
Rajkumar’s goal in the 92nd minute, assisted by Ryan Brennan, lifted North Florida (4-9-1) over the Eagles, ending a hard-fought battle that saw Georgia Southern (7-4-3) outshoot its opponent 20-11 in shots, and 11-7 in shots on goal.
“I was pleased with the way we played,” said head coach Kevin Kennedy. “But we made a few mistakes in the back, and gave up goals that we don’t typically give up. We failed to put away the opportunities that we did create. They were either saved, crossed wide, or hit the crossbar.”
The Ospreys made the first mark in the 16th minute when David Pollard received a crossed ball in the box from teammate Rajkumar. He followed through, putting the Ospreys up, 1-0, while notching his first goal of season.
The Eagles battled back to even up the count in the 25th minute when Scott DeVault (Woodstock, Ga.) converted a Jon Cox (Alpharetta, Ga.) helper into a goal. It was DeVault’s second goal of the season and Cox’s first of two assists on the evening.
After a GSU foul, the Ospreys’ Martin Schuhte converted a free kick into a winner in the 40th minute, lifting North Florida up 2-1, and holding the lead into halftime. The Eagles led the shot margin 11-6 going into the locker room, while North Florida keeper Taylor Unsinger pulled in six first-half saves.
Georgia Southern rebounded in the second half when in the 48th minute, Sean Sandoval (Aurora, Colo.) produced the Eagles’ second and final goal on the night off another Jon Cox assist. It was Sandoval’s first season winner and Cox’s sixth helper of the year.
Though the Eagles’ offensive attack continued to challenge the Osprey defense, firing off nine second-half shots, the remainder of regulation went scoreless, taking the game into additional minutes.
Senior keeper Adam Webb (Melbourne, Fla.) made four saves on the day.
“I think not have a game in a week was good for us physically, but mentally, we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be,” explained Kennedy. “And now, we need to prepare for a tough conference game on the road.”
The Eagles next prepare for their final Southern Conference match of the regular season. They travel to Davidson for a Saturday, Oct. 21 match that is slated for 4 p.m.