Wofford 4, USC Upstate 1
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Wofford swept past the USC Upstate Spartans in a decisive fashion Friday night, defeating the opposition 4-1. Senior midfielder Armin Kinigadner set up three of the goals, earning three assist for the match. Coach Polson's team recorded their first win of the season in the home debut, giving them a 1-3-1 posting for the season. Upstate falls to a 0-3-2 record with the loss.
Four different Terrier players posted goals to earn the win against the Spartans. Andrew Eppelsheimer, Dennis Moore and Alex Hutchins accounted for their first goals of the season. All of them scored off crosses from Armin Kinigadner.
Wilson Hood, team leader in goals (2), showed his mastery of touch when the senior forward chipped in a goal over the Spartan keeper in the 83rd minute for the final blow to Upstate. The Terriers outshot the Spartans 13 to eight and took the advantage in corner kicks as well, taking six compared to their one.
The Terrier defense fortified the win, especially in the second half, not allowing Upstate any shot attempts. Coach Polson's marking backs truly shut down the Spartan offensive front, forcing the Spartans to posts blanks in the corners categories, along with the shot attempt blackout.
The men's soccer team entered the game with an explosive intensity, motivated to improve after being held scoreless throughout the Coastal Carolina/adidas tournament this past weekend. Billy Padula, upheld his reputation as one of the Terrier's best offensive tactical weapons with two massive throw-ins, back to back in the 9th minute of the game. The second throw-in entered the box and rebounded off an Upstate player to Paulo Bonfim's feet. Bonfim drilled a shot toward the net, but had the attempt saved by the Spartan's keeper Jason McCabe.
In the 34th minute, senior captain Randy McLeod made everyone in the stands hold their breath as he used his body to foil an Upstate shot attempt set up off a corner. His save kept the scoreboard clean for the time being.
One of the Terrier's goal scorers, Eppelsheimer had two blistering shots go high over the top crossbar in the span of five minutes around the 38 minute mark. Another goal scorer, Moore, nearly snuck one in during the 36th minute. McCabe, the Spartan keeper, took possession of the ball and nearly gave up an easy goal as Moore hustled to attack the ball at the goalkeeper's feet, forcing it to trickle near the goal but too far away to cause damage.
The last five minutes of the half boasted three of the five goals scored throughout the entire game. Kidigadner set up the first goal with a cross from the right wing. Eppelsheimer took possession of the cross, having time to set up a clean shot and blast it in the net for the first goal of the match.
Freshman forward, Dennis Moore, knocked in the first goal of his career a minute later with a play that looked identical as the first goal, just from the left wing.
Just as the Terriers thought they would be able to enter the locker rooms with a 2-0 lead at half time, Upstate retaliates with a goal of their own with 18 seconds left in the half. Erkan Yildrim accounted for the first goal of the season, unassisted. Yildrim took a deflected ball in the middle of the box and snuck it past Andrew Drennan for a goal.
Entering the second half, the first 22 minutes were uneventful until the 23rd minute of the half when Hood dribbled through the box to cross it across the goalies face to Logan Threadgill, but the ball was pushed wide. The next 25 minutes portrayed a heated game, full of fouls and animosity.
Alex Hutchins devastated the opposition with his first season goal, trapping a cross from Kinigadner and setting up a brilliant shot to score the third goal for the Terriers. The goal accounted for Kinigadner's third assist of the match.
Four minutes later Hood put the final blow in as he took advantage of a pressed up keeper, chipping the ball into the left side-netting. The score gives Hood two goals for the season, putting him on top of the goals scored category for the Terriers.
Coach Polson's team looks to continue their offensive success in Chapel Hill Tuesday night September 21st, starting at 7:00pm. This will mark the second occasion the Terriers have faced the Tar Heels.
Elon 1, Old Dominion 0
NORFOLK, Va. -- Chris Thomas' third goal of the season was a big one as the sophomore's score just 2:49 into the contest propelled the Elon Phoenix to a 1-0 victory over the Old Dominion Monarchs on Friday night. The victory, Elon's first over ODU in six tries, improved the Phoenix to 2-2-1 on the season while the Monarchs dropped to 3-2-0.
The Elon attack started less than a minute into the game when Daniel Lovitz fired a shot wide of the frame. The Phoenix would not miss on its next attempt as Thomas ran down a ball played behind the Monarch defense from Mark Berlin and beat ODU's Evan Newton one-on-one for the game's lone tally.
ODU tried to get the equalizer in the second half, testing Elon's Clint Irwin five times, but the Phoenix keeper was up to the task and turned away each attempt. Irwin made six saves on the night to pick up the 21st shutout of his career.
"I thought our guys played very tough tonight," said Elon head coach Darren Powell. " We were able to score a good early goal and then managed to hold off a lot of sustained pressure from ODU which is a very good and well-coached team. We will get a quick rest and are looking forward to hosting Coastal Carolina on Sunday."
Both sides put six shots on frame over the 90 minutes of play. The Phoenix was held without a corner kick while ODU earned 12 attempts on those set plays.
Of Elon's 10 total shots, five came off the foot of Thomas. Four of those were on frame.
The Phoenix will return to Rudd Field to play host to Coastal Carolina at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
College of Charleston 4, Bucknell 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's soccer team dazzled the 1,013-fan crowd at Patriots Point with a decisive 4-0 victory over Bucknell in the 10th annual Nike / Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic on Friday night.
The win improves CofC's record to 2-2-1 on the year. Bucknell falls to 2-3-0.
"Our energy level was high for the entire match," said head coach Ralph Lundy. "It's so nice to play at home here at Patriots and to have this kind of crowd. The team really fed off that energy."
Sean De Silva (Port of Spain, Trinidad) sparked the Cougars with a 20th minute goal off a beautifully played assist from Ralph Lundy, III (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.).Tony Kattreh (Neptune Beach, Fla.) extended the lead to two goals with just 1:26 remaining in the first half. 2010 CofC goal leader Francis Twohig (St. Simon's Island, Ga.) netted his third and fourth goals of the year to put the game out of reach in the second half.
The Cougars were effective and decisive on the attack and saw a lot of success stringing together passes. As a result, CofC spent the majority of the game in the attacking and middle thirds of the field and registered six corner-kick opportunities compared to just one for the Bison. CofC controlled a 17-14 shot advantage in the match as well.
"I think we played the ball around the park so fast and used excellent passing to get the ball where they didn't have defenders," said Lundy. "It worked out great. The ball movement was so fast that we got players open and we finished on our chances tonight."
The Bison saw the first quality chance of the game when CK Kumah broke behind the Cougar defense on a one-on-one break towards to the goal. Charging CofC keeper Kees Heemskerk (Zaandam, Holland) stifled the attempt with an outstretched right hand, however.
The Cougars broke the scoreless tie in the 20th minute when Lundy, III displayed his creative field vision. Lundy controlled the ball near the top of the box and chipped a ball onto the boot of De Silva who was streaking through the left side of the box. De Silva collected the pass and made a single move towards the end line before beating the keeper to the far post.
The Cougars padded their lead just before halftime when Andy Craven (St. Simon's Island, Ga.) threaded a ball through the top of the box to Kattreh who one touched the ball into the back of the net with just 1:26 remaining in the half.
The teams went into the locker rooms deadlocked in the shots and saves categories at seven and three, respectively. Bucknell committed nine first-half fouls compared to just one for the Cougars.
The Cougars maintained the attacking style of play throughout the second half. Twohig showed why when he chased a ball all the way to the end line to stop a ball from going out of bounds in the 68th minute. Twohig cut back between defenders and chipped over the keeper who had been drawn out from a virtually impossible angle and inside the far post.
Twohig got on the board again in the 74th minute to extend the Cougars' lead to four goals. Kareem Yearwood (Sou Sou Lands, Tobago) picked up an assist on the play.
Heemskerk went the full 90 minutes in goal and made seven saves.
The Cougars will conclude the Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic with a 1:30 p.m. showdown against Lehigh on Sunday, Sept. 19 at Patriots Point.
Lehigh 1, Furman 0
Greenville, S.C. - Austin Decker headed in the only goal of the match in the seventh minute to lift Lehigh over Furman 1-0 in the opening game of the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic on Friday night at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
The win improved the Mountain Hawks to 3-2-1 on the season while Furman slipped to 3-2-0.
At the 6:28 mark, Neil Melchionni served a cross into the six-yard box and Decker headed across the face of goal into the right corner to put Lehigh, ranked eighth in the latest NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Region poll, in front.
Furman held an 8-6 edge in shot attempts, but the Mountain Hawks fashioned a 3-2 edge in shots on goal. Alec Kann stopped two shots in the loss for Furman while Jonathan Nydell recorded two saves to earn the shutout for Lehigh.
Furman returns to action at the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Classic on Sunday when the Paladins face Bucknell at 11:30 a.m.