College of Charleston 4, Alabama A&M 1

CHARLESTON, S.C, September, 2, 2006- The College of Charleston scored three second half goals  en route to a 4-1 win over Alabama A&M in opening round action in the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic at Patriots Point Field on Saturday.

 

In the first game of the Classic, UNC-Wilmington defeated UCF, 2-1.

 

Junior Miles Alden-Dunn scored his first goal of the season in the 19th minute of action off of a penalty kick to give the CofC (2-0-1) an early 1-0 advantage.  Alabama A&M (1-2-1) answered with a goal from MfantaFuthi Bhembe in the 42nd minute to tie the match 1-1 heading into halftime.

 

“Alabama A&M gave us a strong challenge in the first half,” said associate head coach for the Cougars, Ralph Polson.  “We knew that we had to pick up our effort in the second half if we wanted a victory.”

 

CofC scored three unanswered goals in the second half, the first one scored by senior forward Jeremy Gold in the 58th minute off an assist from Kareem Yearwood.

 

“Jeremy is such a competitor and leader for us.  Our team relies so much on his goal scoring abilities, so it was great to see him score his first goal of the season,” said Polson.

 

The Cougars scored their third goal of the match in the 70th minute courtesy of sophomore Drew Fuzy off an assist from junior Grant Guthrie.  Senior Jabari Seabrook scored the final goal of the match for CofC in the 77th minute off an assist from Fuzy.

 

“Our goal finishing skills have improved greatly from the beginning of the season.  Hopefully we can take this momentum with us throughout the rest of the year,” said Polson.

 

The Cougars return to action on Sunday, Sep. 3 in the finale of the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Tournament at Patriots Field in Mt. Pleasant.  They will play the UCF Golden Knights at 6 p.m.

 

VCU 3, UNC Greensboro 1

RICHMOND, VA ? Pat Viray had a goal and an assist to lead Virginia Commonwealth to a 3-1 win over UNC Greensboro in men’s soccer action Saturday night.

 

Viray assisted on a first half goal and then ended any hopes of a UNCG comeback with his first tally of the season at 67:40.

 

VCU (2-1-0) took a 1-0 lead at 12:59 when Fred Owusu Sekyere his first goal of the season. He scored from five yards out off a cross by Viray to give the Rams the early advantage.

 

The Rams made a 2-0 game at 31:04 off a free kick. After a foul on UNCG, Matthijs Maruanaya found the net with a direct kick from 25 yards out.

 

The Spartans (2-1-0), playing two men down at the time, got on the board at 58:32. Jones scored his first goal of the season, finding the net off a direct kick from 35 yards away.

 

But Viray ended any hopes of a comeback just over nine minutes later when he extended the lead.

  

The Spartans return to action on Tuesday when the host Campbell in a rescheduled contest from last week. Game time is set for 7 pm.