Wofford 3, VMI 0
LEXINGTON, Va. – The Wofford College men’s soccer team seized a 3-0 victory against the Keydets of VMI on Tuesday afternoon at Patchin Field.
The win over VMI marks Wofford’s 10th win of the season, making the 2014 campaign the 10th time that Wofford College men’s soccer has won 10 or more games in a single season. The school record for victories is held by the 1994 Terriers team, which earned 14 wins. Coach Ralph Polson’s record for wins in a season stands at 12, set in 2009 as that team earned a bid to the NCAA tournament with a Southern Conference championship.
With the win Tuesday afternoon, the Terriers sit at 6-2-1 in SoCon action. The 18 league points place Wofford in position for a second-place finish at a minimum, with the possibility of a first-place regular-season finish thanks to Mercer’s 2-1 loss to Furman on Tuesday and dependent upon Saturday’s matches.
Wofford was dominant on offense, with 22 shots, half on frame. The Terriers had some trouble timing runs and were called offside on 10 separate occasions.
The Terriers struck twice in the opening half, with the two scores coming 10 minutes apart.
The first goal came 19 minutes in off a free kick. The Terriers began with a quick start, as senior midfielder Pierce Verchick put a long through ball up the left side to junior midfielder Will Puckett. As the Keydet defense tried to recuperate, Puckett dribbled the ball into the right side of the inner box. The junior passed the ball to the left side when he came within feet of VMI’s Zach Kaplan. Puckett found the feet of classmate Nestor Jaramillo, who tapped the ball into the vacant left side of the net for his eighth score of the season.
The Terriers struck again at the 28:18 mark. Jaramillo started the play from the left side of the box, lobbing the ball to the right side. There, Carlos Dominguez-Gonzalez shot the ball from the right post, over Kaplan’s right shoulder to net the second goal of the match, his seventh of the season. With the goal, Dominguez-Gonzalez became Wofford’s career points leader in the Division I era, with 49 to date.
The half ended with a rough foul. Terriers’ defender Forrest Lasso was boxing out VMI’s Alex Hartman on the goal line, allowing the ball to roll out of bounds for a Wofford possession. In the battle for position, Hartman threw Lasso to the ground, earning a yellow card in the affair.
The Keydets were forced to fight an uphill battle early in the second half. In the 56th minute, Hartman came in with another reckless tackle, earning his second yellow card of the match. The Keydets were left to fend with 10 men the rest of the match.
The Terriers took over, with the scoreboard not representative of Wofford’s performance. The Terriers took 13 shots in the second half to VMI’s four but were unable to finish on the majority of their tries.
A quick two-minute spurt looked as if it would provide more goals for the Wofford squad. At the 68-minute mark, freshman Robin Hupin played a ball into the box, but it was snuffed out by Kaplan just as classmate Nash Wagnon sprinted in to tap the ball in. Two minutes later, Hupin played another ball in to junior midfielder Connor Bauknight as he streaked past a defender. Bauknight ripped the shot but was just wide of the goal.
Hupin found his touch in the final minute of the game. The freshman midfielder played the ball in from a corner kick. Simultaneously, sophomore center back Josh Schooler ran from the top to the center of the box, heading Hupin’s cross into the back of the net for the late goal.
Joe Wichmann earned his second consecutive start in the match, earning his second shutout for a 3-0-0 record on the season.
Wofford will finish the regular season on Saturday, when the Terriers host the Furman Paladins in a Senior Day matchup. The men’s soccer staff will honor 10 seniors in Dominguez-Gonzalez, Matt Frongello, Charlie Geddes, Ryan Hurst, Charlie Keeley, Lasso, Nick Orton, Benny Puetter, Pierce Verchick and Ellis Vienne. The game is set for 2 p.m. at Snyder Field.
VMI closes the regular season at UNCG on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Furman 2, Mercer 1
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Lewis Hawke and Kevin Pahl netted second-half goals to rally Furman past Mercer, 2-1, in Southern Conference men’s soccer action Tuesday evening on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium.
With its victory over the first-place Bears (11-6, 7-2 SoCon) in the final regular-season match of the season at Stone Stadium, Furman extended its winning streak to four matches and improved to 9-4-3 overall and 5-3-1 in league play. The victory also clinched a top-three finish for the Paladins. A win over Wofford in Saturday’s regular-season finale in Spartanburg, S.C., will give the Paladins the No. 2 seed and a bye in the upcoming SoCon tournament, while a loss or tie versus the Terriers will leave Furman with the No. 3 seed and a home match in the first round of the league tournament.
Mercer, who would have wrapped up the SoCon regular-season title with a win, took a 1-0 halftime lead without the benefit of a shot in the opening 45 minutes. The Bears won a throw-in about 15 yards from the end line in the 15th minute. The throw bounced inside the 6-yard box and was inadvertently knocked into the net by Paladin goalkeeper Sven Lissek at the 14:45 mark for an own goal.
In the 53rd minute, Furman’s Marco Ortiz received the ball down the middle of the field, dribbled around his defender and into the left side of the box before playing a low cross toward the right post. Hawke controlled the ball on the right side and fired a shot past Mercer goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh at 52:47 to knot the match at 1-1. The goal marked the team-leading seventh of the season for Hawke.
Furman controlled the majority of the possession in the second half and earned its chance to take the lead when junior Pahl was hauled down on the right side of the box with 7:39 left in regulation. Pahl stepped to the penalty spot fired a shot that beat Ranjitsingh to the lower right-hand corner for the deciding goal.
Moments after the score, Lissek preserved the Paladin lead by tipping a Jordan Duru shot over the crossbar to deny Mercer’s best second-half scoring opportunity.
The Paladins finished with a 12-5 edge in shots and 4-3 advantage in shots on goal. Lissek made two saves to earn his eighth victory in goal, while Ranjitsingh stopped two shots in a losing effort for the Bears.
Furman caps the regular season with a 7 p.m. clash with Wofford on Saturday at Snyder Field in Spartanburg.
Mercer will conclude regular-season play in the Southern Conference on Saturday, Nov. 1, when it hosts ETSU. The Bears will honor their two seniors in a short ceremony prior to the start of the game.
UNCG 1, ETSU 0 (OT)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – UNCG men’s soccer junior forward Jacques Francois picked an opportune time to score his first career goal as a Spartan, as he tallied the game-winning goal in the 93rd minute, lifting the Spartans to a pivotal Southern Conference 1-0 overtime victory over hosting ETSU on Tuesday night at Summers-Taylor Stadium.
The Spartans close out the 2014 regular season Saturday night as they host VMI for Homecoming. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. UNCG will also recognize its senior class prior to the game, while a free fireworks show will be held after the contest.
The Spartans’ victory completes the season-series sweep for UNCG against the Buccaneers. Additionally, the victory assures the Spartans of a home game in the SoCon tournament quarterfinals Nov. 8. UNCG improved to 4-4-1 in league play with 13 total points, while ETSU fell to 3-4-1 overall with 10 total points.
Early in the first overtime period, the Spartans were pressing against the Bucs’ back line. Francois forced an ETSU turnover on the back line with his pressure springing himself on a breakaway. He ripped a shot from 25 yards out over the head of Buccaneer goalkeeper Daniel Adelman in the 93rd minute, sending the Spartans into a frenzy with his first career goal as a Spartan.
Freshman goalkeeper William Pyle recorded five saves in the victory, including a pair of diving saves in the second half to preserve the win. Pyle picked up his fourth shutout of the season and second clean sheet against ETSU this year. All four of his shutouts have come during SoCon play.
ETSU came out of the gate in the first half and used the momentum of Senior Day to generate some early chances. Henrique Novaes hit the post in the fifth minute of action, while Joao Ramalho hit the crossbar on the set piece in the 26th minute of action. Sophomore forward Nicholas Downs had the Spartans’ top chance in the first half, firing a shot from 15 yards out in the 22nd minute that Adelman made a diving save to thwart.
Junior midfielder Lukas Zarges came within inches of putting the Spartans in the lead in the 63rd minute of play. Zarges made a run down the middle of the field and ripped a shot from the top of the 18-yard box that sailed just wide of the post.
ETSU finished the game with a 22-13 edge in shots in the loss but the Spartans held a 10-4 edge in corner kicks in the contest. Francois led the Spartans with four shots, while senior Justin Jones added three shots. Novaes led the Bucs with seven shots, while Ramalho added five shots in the loss.
ETSU wraps up its regular season at Mercer on Saturday at 8 p.m.