Radford 4, Appalachian State 2
RADFORD, Va. – Appalachian State (1-1-2) fell to the Highlanders of Radford (1-1-1) by a final tally of 4-2 on Tuesday evening. It marks the first loss of the season for the Mountaineers in 2013.
The Mountaineers got on the board first when an Alex Herbst corner kick connected with the head of Harrison Delbridge, who drilled it into the back of the net to give the Apps an early 1-0 advantage in the 24th minute. The goal for Delbridge was his second of the season.
Joe Mayer answered the Delbridge goal only one minute and 22 seconds later to steal the Mountaineer momentum back. The Highlanders would grab the lead going into the half with a 39th-minute goal from Chel Ho Park Him off of a rebounded shot by Mayer. The Mountaineers would head to the locker room down 2-1.
Appalachian State would be able to tie the game 10 minutes into the second half. A beautiful ball played up the far side by Delbridge would find forward Stanley Broaden, who would take a few dribbles before crossing it into the box finding Stephen Chapman to pound home the equalizer to make it 2-2 in the 55th minute. The goal for Chapman was his second of the 2013 campaign.
Mayer would then net his second goal of the game in the 67th minute. Then, 48 seconds later, Mayer would complete his hat trick and tally his third goal of the game to put the game out of reach at 4-2.
Keeper Danny Free would earn the start again for Matt Nelson’s squad and made four saves on the night.
Appalachian would be outshot by a 17-6 advantage, but the scoring chances were equal throughout the match.
The Mountaineers will return to action on Saturday when they host USC Upstate at Appalachian Soccer Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Duke 1, Georgia Southern 0
DURHAM, N.C. – After nine days off since their 2-1 win over Gardner-Webb, the Georgia Southern men's soccer team fell 1-0 against the ACC foe Duke Blue Devils.
The two teams played a scoreless first half of soccer before Nick Palodichuk connected on a Zach Mathers pass for his first goal of the season, putting Duke (2-1-1) ahead 1-0.
The Eagles (1-2-0) battled to the end and tallied three shots on goal in the last 10 minutes of action, but Alex Long made eight saves in the cage on the night.
Reed Norton posted five shots, with four coming on goal to lead the GSU attack. Eric Dinka added three shots and one shot on goal off the bench, while Hunter Norton added two shots.
Duke outshot the Eagles 15-2 in the first half, but Neal Bates kept the Blue Devils off the scoreboard. Bates played all 90 minutes and finished with six saves. GSU bounced back to outshoot Duke 11-7 in the second half.
After the early second-half goal, the Eagles tallied their only two corner kicks in the 67th and 71st minutes, respectively. Both kicks led to GSU shots. The first by Dinka sailed wide of the net, while the second, a header by Chase Park, was saved by Long.
The Eagles will remain on the road this weekend when they face Stetson and Mercer in Macon, Ga. GSU will take on the Hatters at 5 p.m. on Friday and the Bears at 7 p.m. on Sunday.