Appalachian State 3, High Point 2
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State men?s soccer needed a second-half goal from McCoy Livingston (Charlotte, N.C.) to fend off High Point University and improve to 5-0 on the season with a 3-2 win Wednesday night in High Point. The 5-0 start is the third-best in the program?s history and its best since 1980.
Appalachian outshot HPU, 16-7, but the Panthers scored on both their shots on goal to make the contest a closely-fought battle. ASU held a resounding 11-3 advantage in shots during the first half before HPU clamped down and limited the Apps to just five shots in the second stanza. Appalachian was without the services of a handful of regular starters due to injury while the Panther side was forced to play a man down for the final 65 minutes after a starter was issued his second yellow card of the evening. HPU was carded a total of four times in the contest.
ASU wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard with a tally from Michael Walters (Raleigh, N.C.) in the third minute on a free kick. Juan Obregon (Castle Rock, Colo.) added another goal in the 19th minute on an indirect kick. Walters was credited with an assist on Obregon?s fourth goal of the season.
Five minutes later, the Panthers converted on their first offensive opportunity of the evening courtesy of Dan Haywood?s goal off the Chris Archer assist to cut ASU?s lead at halftime to 2-1. HPU?s Hilarie Babou needed less than four minutes in the second half to find the equalizer on a scoring strike that was engineered by Archer and Josh Windley.
The two squads battled for the ensuing thirty minutes before Livingston directed an Obregon pass into the back of the net for the gamewinner. The goal was Livingston?s first career gamewinner, while the assist gives Obregon 11 points in five matches on the season.
Appalachian will take a week off before putting its perfect record on the line next Wednesday, September 13 versus Gardner-Webb at the ASU Soccer Stadium. The match with the Bulldogs is scheduled for 4 p.m.
UNC Asheville 5, Wofford 0
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- After trailing by just a goal entering halftime, the Wofford men's soccer team ended up on the losing side of a 5-0 loss at UNC Asheville Wednesday afternoon in Asheville, N.C.
The Terriers were behind only 1-0 at the half on a Scott Szymanski tally from Benjamin Meyer at 39:42. However early in the second half, Szymanski added his second score at 49:05 to give the host Bulldogs the 2-0 margin on an unassisted opportunity.
UNC Asheville's (1-2) lead would grow to three just over minutes later, at 54:42, when Ian Willmot found the back of the net on Szymanski helper. Wilmot again scored, at 67:52, following a pass from David Verga.
The final tally came off a Szymanski assist as he fed Barrett Locke at 78:34.
Wofford's Thomas Hunter III was making his second start in goal and played the first 73:44 before being relieved by senior Russ Sandifer for the final 16:16. The Bulldogs, likewise, made a goalkeeper switch as Phillip Horner came in for Michael Pereira at the 70:34 mark.
Senior Joel Kozak paced the Terriers with two shots out of the team's total of 11. Locke led UNC Asheville with five shots as the team registered 18.
Wofford (1-3-1) will next play at 4 p.m. Friday at High Point when it continues action against the Big South Conference.
Old Dominion 1, Elon 0
ELON, N.C. -- For the second straight season the Elon Phoenix men’s soccer squad took a perfect 4-0-0 record into its meeting with the Old Dominion Monarchs. For the second straight season the Monarchs handed the Phoenix its first loss of the year in a one-goal decision as ODU earned a 1-0 victory over Elon from Rudd Field on Wednesday afternoon. Last year, ODU won 4-3 in Norfolk, Va.
The first half was played fairly evenly with the Monarchs (3-1-0) holding a slim 7-5 advantage in shots over the Phoenix (4-1-0) during the scoreless stanza.
Just over 10 minutes into the second period, Old Dominion’s Zachary Kinney collected a pass from Edson Elcock near the box and beat the Phoenix keeper for the game’s only score.
Elon’s best chance to even the score came in the 66th minute when Kiki Willis got off a shot from the keeper’s right that rebounded to Nick Aparicio. Aparicio’s shot was then denied by a diving Evan Newton. Newton made two of his seven saves during that series.
Taylor Saxe stopped six shots in net for the Phoenix.
“I thought that we battled hard and it was a game fought to the last kick against a quality ODU team,” said Elon head coach Darren Powell. “I felt we showed good fight and promise in the first half. If we can maintain that type of play for 90 minutes, this team will have a very positive season.”
Up next for Elon will be a trip to the UNCG Soccer Classic where the Phoenix will take on Belmont at 5:00 p.m. from UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, N.C. on Friday afternoon. On Sunday, Elon will take on 17th-ranked UAB at 1:00 p.m. at the same site.