Elon 2, Rutgers 1
DURHAM, N.C. – Myles Mansfield and Jason Waterman each scored goals late in the second half as the Elon men’s soccer team pulled out a 2-1 win over Rutgers on Sunday, the final day of the John Rennie Nike Invitational at Koskinen Stadium.
Elon (1-0-1) earned its first win of 2013 in its first-ever meeting ever against the Scarlet Knights (0-1-1). The Phoenix and the Scarlet Knights were knotted at nine shots apiece, but Elon had a 5-1 advantage in the second period. Rutgers won the overall battle in corners, 6-2.
Elon nearly had the first points of the match around the 10th minute. Nick Butterly took a cross from Charles Howard on the left side of the post and found a streaking Waterman coming down the middle of the box, but the Rutgers keeper was able to corral the ball.
Five minutes later, Scarlet Knight forward Kene Eze broke free from the Phoenix backline and almost put Rutgers on the board, but Elon goalkeeper Nathan Dean managed to get his hands on the ball and knock it out of play.
Dean again found himself alone facing Eze as the Rutgers forward moved toward him down the right side of the box at the 27th minute, but his shot went high over the post.
In the 33rd minute, Rutgers scored the first goal of the match to move ahead 1-0. Eze had his shot within the box deflected by an Elon defender, but the rebound found RU’s Nathan Bruccoleri, who fired a strike from 12 yards out for the goal.
Elon managed to get one final shot before intermission, but RU keeper David Greczek stopped Cauê Da Silva’s attempt in the 38th minute and the teams went into the half with the score at 1-0. Rutgers outshot Elon 8-4 in the opening stanza and had a 5-1 advantage on corners.
During the second half, the Maroon and Gold turned up the pressure on the Scarlet Knights’ back line. At the 55th minute, Elon earned a corner kick, but Butterly’s header went high of the goal. Waterman nearly had the equalizer five minutes later on another shot, but his strike hit the post.
The Phoenix finally got on board in the 76th minute as Mansfield had the equalizer from the top of the box from 18 yards away after getting a feed from Matt Wescoe. Two minutes later, Waterman was able to put Elon in front on a breakaway goal again from 18 yards out and gave the Maroon and Gold a 2-1 lead.
Elon managed to prevent Rutgers from answering with the game-tying goal and emerged unbeaten from the prestigious tournament, with Butterly, Waterman and sophomore Miguel Salazar selected to the All-Tournament team. The win was also the 80th for Elon head coach Darren Powell at the school.
The Phoenix travels to Wilmington, N.C., next weekend for its second early season tournament, the UNCW Classic. Elon faces Mercer on Friday at 5 p.m. for its first match before closing out the tournament against Presbyterian on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m.
Georgia Southern 2, Gardner-Webb 1
STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern capped off a victorious 24-hour span at the Erk Russell Park with a 2-1 win over Gardner-Webb to close the 2013 SoCon/Big South Challenge. The visitors scored the opener on 31 minutes, but goals from Eric Dinka and Jeremy Rector in the 36th and 63rd minutes gave GSU the 2-1 win.
Gardner-Webb drew first blood in the 31st minute, when Ali Al-Gashamy found Denzel Clark’s head at the center of the danger area for the Bulldogs’ only goal of the afternoon.
Dinka drew the Eagles level less than six minutes later with his first goal of the season. The sophomore striker got on the end of a Witt Carlisle cross in the box and struck the ball on the volley into the net to tie the match at 1-1.
That was the score at the break with the Eagles leading in the shots department 7-4.
In the second half, the Eagles took the lead in the 63rd minute when freshman Rector opened his career scoring account with a wonderful counterattack goal. Rector, playing in just his second collegiate game, was sprung on a counterattack and beat a defender in the center of the park to get free on goal. He beat the GWU keeper 1v1 for his first collegiate goal.
Neal Bates was splendid between the pipes, holding the Garner-Webb attack to just one goal. The net-minder made nine saves, including seven in the second half.
Bates earned a spot on the SoCon/Big South Challenge All-Tournament Team along with teammates Hunter Norton and Josh Ward.
The Eagles are off for the next week before traveling to face Duke on Sept. 10 in Durham, N.C.
Davidson 2, Marshall 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. – In addition to another strong performance in goal by Matt Pacifici, Davidson used a pair of early goals to blank Marshall, 2-0, in nonconference men’s soccer action Sunday evening at Alumni Stadium.
After the opening kickoff was delayed for well over an hour due to severe weather, Davidson (1-0-1) wasted little time grabbing control of the contest as the Wildcats scored on their first two shot attempts. Just a minute and 35 seconds after John Pace curled one inside the far post, Chris Pettiglio snuck his fifth-minute one-on-one opportunity through the legs of Herd keeper Danny Sellitti.
Max Pragnell, who assisted on the equalizer Friday evening against Navy, set up both first-half strikes for the Wildcats.
With less than five minutes left in the first half, Jake Keator just missed extending Davidson’s lead as his attempt caromed off the left post.
Marshall (0-1-1) held a 14-12 edge in shots and a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Both keepers finished with three saves, while Pacifici collected his second career shutout.
Following a week away from action, the Wildcats will travel to Harvard for a 2 p.m. contest Sept. 8.
Appalachian State 1, Navy 1 (2OT)
BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State hosted Navy on Sunday afternoon and earned a tie for the second time in as many games, 1-1.
There was a total of 41 fouls, nine yellow cards and two red cards dished out on the afternoon.
The first score of the game came in the second half, when Navy’s Jamie Dubyoski ran through a ball sent up front and was able to get a shot off from the right side of the box to beat goalkeeper Danny Free diving to his right.
Free got the starting nod for the second consecutive game and allowed just one goal while also making five big saves for the Mountaineers.
The 1-0 Navy lead held until the 87th minute, when senior Harrison Delbridge was able to volley a rebound for the equalizer. Delbridge controlled a rebound with his left foot and fired a strike past a diving Aaron Dupere to tie the game at 1-1.
The game would stay at a 1-1 tie for the remainder of regulation and through 20 minutes of overtime.
Appalachian had a 16-14 advantage in shots, with both teams putting six on target. The Mountaineers, however, had many more chances than the stat sheet would let on. In the 73rd minute, Mason McCarter got past his defender on the far side and sent a great ball through the box right in front of the net that went untouched. In the 75th minute, Stephen Chapman sent a similar ball from the other side that also went untouched.
Appalachian State will return to action on Sept. 6 when it hosts UNC Asheville. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
No. 8 Akron 1, Furman 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Akron’s Reinaldo Brenes found the back of the net in the 58th minute to lift the eighth-ranked Zips to a 1-0 victory over Furman in men’s soccer action on Sunday afternoon at the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic at Patriots Point.
The loss dropped the Paladins to 1-1-0 on the season while Akron, 2-0 victors versus College of Charleston on Friday night, improved to 2-0-0 on the season.
In the 58th minute, Ismail Seremba slipped a through ball into the path of Brenes, who slotted a shot into the right-hand corner at 57:35 for the only score of the match.
The Zips held Furman to just two shots the rest of the way and allowed only one shot on goal by the Paladins over 90 minutes to claim the win. Akron finished the match with an 8-7 edge in shots and 3-1 advantage in shots on goal.
Fernando Pina recorded one save to earn the victory in goal for the Zips. Sophomore Sven Lissek notched two saves for the Paladins.
Furman returns to Greenville, S.C., to open its home schedule on Saturday when it hosts College of Charleston in the Gray Griffin Memorial Game. Kickoff at Stone Stadium is slated for 7 p.m.
Winthrop 2, Wofford 1
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Wofford men’s soccer team lost to Winthrop, 2-1 Sunday afternoon in its final match of the SoCon/Big South Challenge at Georgia Southern University.
The Terriers fell to 0-2-0 on the season, while the Eagles improved to 2-0-0 overall.
In the first half, Winthrop struck first when forward Max Hasenstab scored in the 18th minute to put the Eagles up 1-0. Wofford would get its best opportunity of the half when sophomore midfielder Will Puckett had a shot in the 37th minute that was saved by Eagles’ goalkeeper Guilherme Avelar. The score remained unchanged at 1-0 going into the half.
In the second half, Wofford junior forward Carlos Dominguez Gonzalez scored a header off of a cross from freshman forward Matthew Aurednik in the 67th minute to bring the Terriers level, 1-1. The goal for Dominguez Gonzalez was his second of the season.
In the 76th minute, the Eagles would score the game-winning goal when forward Jose Mencia scored to put them ahead 2-1.
Wofford had one more opportunity to tie the match in the 90th minute, when junior defender Ryan Hurst had a header that flew just wide of the goal.
For the match, Winthrop outshot Wofford 17-16 and won the corner battle 5-4.
For the Terriers, freshman Garrett Closs picked up his second loss of the season, facing 17 Eagles shots and making four saves. For the Eagles, Avelar earned his second win of the season. He faced 16 shots from the Terriers and made five saves.
Wofford defender Connor Davis and Dominguez Gonzalez were named to the all-tournament team.
Wofford is back in action Friday when it travels to Philadelphia, Pa., to take on Temple University in the Temple/St. Joseph’s Tournament. The match will kick off at 4 p.m. The Terriers’ home opener at Snyder Field is on Wednesday, Sept. 11, when they host Liberty University at 5 p.m.