Appalachian State 1, UNC Asheville 0
Aug. 28
ASHEVILLE, N.C.- Sophomore Lee Williams (Liverpool, England/Hillside) hit a header in the 27th minute of Appalachian States exhibition match to score the contests lone goal, as the Mountaineers defeated UNC-Asheville, 1-0, Saturday night in Asheville. The match was held at Memorial Stadium.
Williams landed the header off the assist from junior Ryan Duffy (Apex, N.C./Apex).
ASU looked to score more than their one goal, outshooting the Bulldogs, 17-5. Appalachian also edged UNCA in corner kicks, 6-2.
The Apps were led in shots by junior Sean Dreybus (Newport News, Va./Warwick) and Chad Dalton (Tampa, Fla./Land OLakes), with four shots a piece.
Appalachian returns to action on Sept. 3, taking on Bowling Green, as part of the Davidson adidas Classic. Game time is set for 5 p.m.
Georgia Southern 0, Gardner-Webb 0
Aug. 28
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Soccer Team battled Gardner-Webb to a scoreless draw in their final exhibition match, finishing 2-0-1 in preseason play.
"Gardner-Webb is a very tough opponent, and it is always a tight game when we play them," Head Coach Kevin Kennedy said after the game. "With that said, we felt like we created four or five scoring chances and just failed to put the game away. Unfortunately, we could have grabbed one their but we didn't."
The Eagles out-shot the Runnin' Bulldogs 15-6, forcing Gardner-Webb goalkeepers Trent Kozman and Adam Garcia to combined for eight saves, four each half. Kozman started the game for the Runnin' Bulldogs before Garcia came on in the second half.
Ryan Platt (Preston, England) played all 90 minutes in goal for the Eagles, making two saves. Jon Cox (Alpharetta, Ga.) took a game-high six shots, placing two on target, but couldn't find the back of the net. Six other Eagles also placed a shot on goal, but the Gardner-Webb goalkeepers continued to make the tough stops to keep the game scoreless.
Georgia Southern will open the regular season at home against USC Upstate on Wednesday, September 1. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
Wofford 0, Presbyterian 0
Aug. 28
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The men's soccer team wrapped up their preseason training Saturday evening with an exhibition match against Presbyterian College. The match structure involved three 30 minute periods of play. The final after 90 minutes was 0-0 draw.
The Terriers used the last exhibition match to give every player as much field experience before regular season play started. 24 different players recorded significant playing time during the match, including freshman goalkeeper Ben Limbaugh. This was Limbaugh's first opportunity to showcase his ability in front of the net. He played the last 45 minutes of the match and tallied four saves.
The club's offense was very productive, but unable to put the finishing shot in goal. The Terriers totaled 16 total shots, with eight being on frame. Andrew Eppelsheimer led the team in shots with three and Armin Kinigadner was able to put the most shots on goal with two. Eppelsheimer had the squad's best scoring opportunity with a penalty kick in the 27th minute of the second period, but it just barely nicked the left woodwork.
The defense, led by senior captain Randy McLeod was able to hold the Blue Hose scoreless throughout the entire 90 minutes. The defense was able to hold the opposing forces to only one goal in the entire 210 minutes played of the three preseason exhibition matches.
The Terriers open up regular season play this Thursday against the Midshipmen of the Naval Academy. The game will start at 7:00 pm in Annapolis, MD.
#3 Wake Forest 3, Furman 2
Aug. 27
Greenville, S.C. -- Wake Forest's Ben Newnam converted a penalty kick at 82:50 to hand the third-ranked Demon Deacons a 3-2 victory over Furman in exhibition men's soccer action before a crowd of 2,314 on Friday night at Stone Soccer Stadium.
Trailing 2-1 with less than 20 minutes remaining, Wake Forest took advantage of a misplayed back pass and Andy Lubahn tucked a shot past Furman reserve keeper Maros Valko to knot the match at 2-2 at 71:44. At 82:50, Luciano Delbano drew a foul in the box and Newnam stepped up to beat Valko to the left side for the match-winning penalty.
Furman took a 1-0 lead at the 14:53 mark when Eric Cobleigh placed a header past Wake Forest keeper Akira Fitzgerald on a cross from Fabien Vorbe. The Demon Deacons equalized 10 minutes before intermission as Lubahn broke free on the left side of the box and lined a shot to the right corner at 34:22 to bring the score line to 1-1.
The Paladins regained the lead at the hour mark as freshman Michael Gandier rose above the Wake Forest defense to hammer a header past Fitzgerald off of Jacob Brown's free kick from 40 yards out at 59:50.
After Lubahn tied the match at 2-2 on the breakaway, Furman had a chance to capture the victory earning a penalty kick, but substitute keeper Michael Lisch turned away Josh Fusan's shot with a diving save towards the left post to maintain the tie and set up Newnam's late winner from the penalty spot.
Wake Forest held an 8-5 advantage on shot attempts and 5-2 edge in corner kicks taken. Lisch earned the victory in goal making the lone penalty save in 19 minutes of work. Valko took the loss for Furman.
The Paladins open regular season play on Wednesday when they host East Tennessee State in a 7 p.m. match at Stone Stadium.
South Carolina 2, College of Charleston 1
Aug. 28
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's soccer team was defeated, 2-1, by intrastate rival South Carolina in its final exhibition match on Saturday evening at Stone Stadium. The match marked CofC's final exhibition of the 2010 campaign.
Sean De Silva (Port of Spain, Trinidad) put the Cougars ahead early but Carolina rallied from behind to earn the victory.
Freshman midfielder Bradlee Baladez scored the game's tying goal, while freshman midfielder Chipper Root earned the game winner in the 59th minute.
South Carolina held a 15-11 advantage in shots in the contest, including a 10-5 upperhand in the second half.
De Silva led the Charleston offense with four shots, including three on frame. He also scored the lone Cougar goal in the match on an assist from freshman midfielder Ralph Lundy III (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) in the 11th minute of the contest.
College of Charleston goalkeeper Kees Heemskerk (Zaandam, Holland) played all 90 minutes in net, collecting a game-high seven saves in the match.
Both teams had their chances early in the first half on the offensive side of the field. College of Charleston capitalized first, scoring in the 11th minute on a corner kick opportunity. Lundy took the corner from the left side and sent a well-placed pass to De Silva 35 yards from net. De Silva hit a bullet towards the Carolina net, hitting the upper left side of frame for the 1-0 Charleston upperhand.
South Carolina failed to capitalize on several chances the remainder of the half, including a Baladez shot that hit the cross bar, and a shot by Trevor Hubbard that went just wide.
Jimmy Maurer played stellar in net for Carolina in the opening half, collecting consecutive point-blank saves on shots by De Silva in the 20th minute, and a diving save in the 44th minute to hold the contest at 1-0 entering the half.
The Gamecock offensive surged in the second half, beginning with Baladez's tally in the 55th minute. Baladez collected a pass from Blake Brettschneider and beat one defender before placing the ball past Heemskerk to even the contest at 1-1. Root scored the game winner just four minutes later.
Following a Gamecock corner kick, Eric Martinez collected a loose ball in the Cougar 18-yard box and sent a low cross to Root, who scored the go-ahead goal for Carolina.
The Cougars will begin the regular season at the Bert and Iris Wolstein Classic in Columbus, Ohio, over the weekend of Fri. Sept. 3. The Cougars will see Ohio State and Penn State in the tournament, both of which finished the 2009 season ranked in the top 15 nationally.
#2 North Carolina 3, UNCG 0
Aug. 28
GREENSBORO, N.C. North Carolina scored a pair of early goals to jump out to an early lead on its way to a 3-0 win over UNCG in mens soccer exhibition play in front of a crowd of 3,064 Saturday night at UNCG Soccer Stadium.
Kirk Urso scored twice and Alex Dixon had two assists to pace the Tar Heels, who are ranked in the top 5 of all three preseason polls, including No. 1 by TopDrawerSoccer.com. The Spartans settled in after the two early goals and played well in spurts. North Carolina wound up with a 16-12 advantage in shots.
I think what we learned tonight is that if we make mistakes against a good team, they are going to punish us for it, said UNCG interim head coach Justin Maullin. We made two mistakes early and they punished us. One of the things we try to tell our team is to let the game settle and I dont think we did a good job of that tonight.
Urso opened the scoring at 2:11 with a goal off Dixons feed. A turnover by the UNCG defense led to a Tar Heel breakaway. Dixon dished off when he was contested on the left side and Urso knocked it home from just inside the 18 for the early 1-0 advantage.
Dixon had the helper again just over eight minutes later. His pass from the left side this time found Bruno Castro, who beat goalkeeper Peyton Ford for a 2-0 North Carolina lead.
UNCG had a chance to get on the board midway through the first half as it settled down. Mahdi Ali made a great feed to Duke Garner, but Garner made one move too many and the Tar Heel defense recovered to knock away an attempted shot.
Ford, who finished the night with seven saves, made a great save on a penalty kick early in the second half. After Ford was called for a foul chasing down a loose ball, cutting out Billy Schulers legs, Schuler lined up to take a penalty kick. Schuler went to Fords right and he guessed right, knocking the ball down.
UNCG had another great chance to get on the scoreboard with just over 20 minutes left to play. A ball through box found its way to Pete Kurowski, who was alone on the nearside post. But Kurowski popped it just wide.
Urso closed out the scoring at 82:19. After a foul in the box gave the Tar Heels another penalty kick, Urso blasted the ball into the bottom nearside corner, beating the diving Ford.
UNCG had a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks. The Tar Heels played the final 47:38 shorthanded after Stephen McCarty picked up his second yellow card of the night with 2:38 left before halftime.
The Spartans, who finished the preseason 1-1 after beating No. 11-ranked Duke last Saturday, open the regular season at home on Wednesday night, hosting in-state rival Charlotte at 7 p.m.