Appalachian State 3, Winthrop 0
BOONE, N.C. - Aided by two goals from senior Sean Dreybus (Newport News, Va./Warwick), Appalachian State men's soccer handily defeated visiting Winthrop, 3-0, in non-conference action at ASU Soccer Stadium on Wednesday night. With the win, the Mountaineers improve to 6-2-2 (1-0 SoCon), while Winthrop slides to 3-7-0 (0-1 Big South).
The win extends Appalachian's streak to seven games without a loss (5-0-2), tying the program's longest unbeaten streak since its 10-1-2 season in 1978. This season also marks the first time the Apps have gone over 30 days in-season without a loss since that same year.
Appalachian took control of the match early and retained it throughout the full 90 minutes.
In the 32nd minute, Mark Bridges (Morganton, N.C./East Burke) injected a throw-in from the right sideline and placed the long-ball within the six-yard box. After deflecting off players from both teams, Nicholas Skoda (Knoxville, Tenn./Hardin Valley) used his head to control the ball to Dreybus, who connected to put the Black and Gold in front, 1-0.
Winthrop came out of the break looking to score and nearly caught the Mountaineers off-guard on several attempts; however, each time, the Appalachian defense managed to break up the attack.
Playing his second game at Appalachian, Boubacar Toure (Atlanta, Ga./Georgia Perimeter College) made his presence known in the 74th minute. The junior transfer's fancy footwork in the penalty area allowed him to circumvent his Eagle defender and slide the ball into the left of the net for his second goal of the year.
Less than four minutes later, Dreybus connected for his second goal of the day, this time capitalizing on a well-placed serve from freshman Stanley Broaden (Wilmington, N.C./Eugene Ashley). The goal was the senior's team-leading sixth of the year and clinched the Apps' 3-0 victory.
Dreybus finished the game with a game-high three shots-all on goal.
Appalachian dominated the offensive half throughout the game. By the end, the Black and Gold had amassed a 16-5 advantage in shots with seven of those on goal.
Collin Taylor (Morganton, N.C./Freedom) notched his 12th career shutout. Despite not recording a save in the game, the senior played a role in breaking up several Winthrop chances.
"It was a good team win and a solid performance," commented head coach Matt Nelson. "A lot of different players got into the game, and the level of play never dropped. It gave us the opportunity to give some of our starters a break and rest for our big conference game on Saturday."
Appalachian State hosts defending Southern-Conference champion UNCG on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
No. 24 Coastal Carolina 3, College of Charleston 2
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's soccer team fell by a 3-2 count in a back-and-forth, physical contest to No. 24 Coastal Carolina at Patriots Point on Wednesday night.
The passion fueling the cross-state coastal rivalry was apparent in a match that saw five lead changes and ties as well as 26 fouls called and nine yellow cards between the two teams.
"They are a very good team and I can see why their record and ranking are what they are," said head coach Ralph Lundy. "It was a match which both teams wanted to win a great deal. Both teams just played hard.
"I don't like losing; I've got news for you. We gave away some goals that we shouldn't have but we played a very competitive match. I'm not discouraged other than that I don't like losing. The cougars stepped up and played hard and I'm happy about the fact that we played a very good game against a very good team. I'm not happy that we gave up goals that should have been taken care of. It was a tough, tough game."
The Chanticleers took an early lead with a goal at the 5:03 mark when Kees Heemskerk (Zaandam, Holland) tried to keep a ball in play and it fell to Ricky Garbanzo who fired a point-blank shot on goal. Heemskerk recovered and denied Garbanzo but the rebound trickled to the boot of Ashton Bennett who tucked the ball into his right-hand corner of the net.
The lead wouldn't hold long as the Cougars equalized 57 seconds later when Joey De Mare (Chapin, S.C.) slipped a ball to Sean de Silva (Port of Spain, Trinidad) at the top-left corner of the box and de Silva blasted a shot through a defender's legs and into the back of the net.
After almost 40 minutes of physical, scoreless play, the Cougars seized a 2-1 lead when Robbie Benson (Rock Hill, S.C.) launched a long throw-in into the box where Shawn Ferguson (Rock Hill, S.C.) headed the ball into the air before Troy Peterson (Federal Way, Wash.) got under it and headed the ball into the back of the net.
Quick retaliations were the theme in the first half as Coastal followed suit with their equalizer just 36 seconds later. Henrik Robstad fired a long shot on Heemskerk which rebounded again to Bennett who capitalized with his fifth goal in the Chants' past two matches to send the teams into the locker rooms leveled at 2-2 after an extremely physical first period.
The Chanticleers notched the second half's only goal in the 80th minute on a corner kick sent in by Justin Portillo and headed through traffic into the net by Garbanzo.
CofC returns to Southern Conference play when the Cougars host No. 33 Furman at Patriots Point on Saturday night. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
High Point 2, UNCG 1 (2 OT)
GREENSBORO, N.C.-High Point's Shawn Sloan scored the game-winning goal with 40 seconds remaining in the second overtime period as the Panthers handed UNCG a 2-1 setback, Wednesday at UNCG Soccer Stadium.
With the clock winding down on the match, UNCG's defense failed to clear the ball and Sloan intercepted on the left side of the box and snapped a shot past goalkeeper Peyton Ford for the game-winning goal. The loss marks UNCG's second defeat this season in the final minute of overtime. East Tennessee State defeated the Spartans in similar fashion on Aug. 31 in Greensboro.
Though he allowed the game-winning goal, the match wouldn't have gotten as far as it did without some heroics by Ford. The redshirt junior made nine saves overall, including a pair on a scrum in front of the net less than three minutes prior to Sloan's winning shot.
UNCG (4-5-0) got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead on Oddur Gudmundsson's second goal of the season in the 13th minute. Gudmundsson headed in a perfect corner kick by Aaron Reifschneider to give the Spartans a brief lead.
High Point (4-5-1) knotted the score in the 32nd minute when Adam Sewell took a long pass from Sloan and poked a shot past Ford to make it 1-1.
The Spartans had a chance to take a lead late in the second half but came up empty. Cameron Owens dribbled through the High Point defense and found himself one-on-one with Panthers keeper Michael Chesler away from the goal. Owens chipped a soft shot past Chesler, but an HPU defender tapped the ball away just before it crossed the goal line.
Overall, the Panthers out-shot UNCG 19-10, with 11 shots coming on-goal for High Point. Chesler made four saves for the Panthers.
Next the Spartans return to Southern Conference play when they visit Appalachian State, 7:30 p.m., Saturday in Boone, N.C.