Wofford 6, VMI 0
LEXINGTON, Va. – Three players scored their first collegiate goals as the Wofford men’s soccer team defeated the VMI Keydets on Saturday afternoon 6-0 at Patchin Field to close out the 2015 regular season.
Midfielder Will Puckett led the Terriers with two goals, and forwards Nicky Watson and Jack Sicker each contributed a goal and an assist in the victory.
The Terriers (9-6-2, 4-5-1 SoCon) scored their first goal of the match in the 36th minute. Watson beat a Keydet defender to the ball on the left side of the net and crossed it to midfielder Will Puckett. Puckett then found the back of the net with his shot, his fourth goal of the season.
Watson would add a goal of his own six minutes later. Sicker fed Watson a leading pass to the left side. The junior then lined up a shot that hit the right post and ricocheted into the net for Watson’s second goal of the season.
The Terriers took the 2-0 halftime lead and kept the momentum moving into the second half. Puckett scored his second goal of the match at the 53’ mark on a shot from 20 yards out, earning his fifth goal of the season.
Sicker then put home his first collegiate goal about a minute later. Forward Connor Copeland fed Sicker a pass inside the box to set up Sicker one-on-one with VMI keeper Alex Guerra. Sicker shot a grounder under Guerra’s hand into the right side of the net, giving the Terriers a 4-0 lead.
Forward Matthew Ward added the final goal for the Terriers in the 80th minute, his first of his collegiate career. The freshman split the defense and shot the ball from the right side of the box into the middle of the net for the goal.
Midfielder Jordan Poff scored the Terrier’s final goal of the match in the closing minutes. He broke away from the Keydet defense and beat the keeper one-on-one to score his first collegiate goal and give the Terriers the 6-0 final score.
The Terrier defense played strong as well in the match, holding VMI to only two shots on goal, one in each half. Terrier goalkeepers Garrett Closs and Joe Wichmann were able to save one shot each in the match, combining for the Terriers’ fourth shutout victory this season. Guerra took the loss for VMI and finished the match with four saves while playing all 90 minutes in net.
Wofford outshot VMI 20-14 in the match, with both teams having two corner kick opportunities. Midfielder Andrew Starnes led the Keydets (0-18, 0-10 SoCon) with three shots and one shot on goal in the match.
The game marked Senior Day for senior cadet-athletes in Guerra, Starnes, David Harpen, Eric Friese and Hunter Morgan.
The Terriers will enter the Southern Conference Championship as the fifth seed, finishing fifth in the regular-season standings. The team will travel to ETSU next Saturday, Nov. 7, to play the four-seed Buccaneers.
VMI, the sixth seed, will face No. 3 seed Mercer in Macon, Ga., on Saturday, Nov. 7, in the other quarterfinal match.
Furman 1, Mercer 1 (2OT)
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Senior Kevin Pahl ripped a shot into the left side netting with 2:47 left in regulation to erase a one-goal deficit and help Furman to a 1-1 draw with Mercer in the men’s soccer regular-season finale for both schools Saturday night on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
With Furman’s draw and UNCG’s 1-1 draw at ETSU, the Paladins (7-5-4, 6-2-2) are locked into the No. 2 seed for the Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Championship and will receive a first-round bye. The winner of next Saturday’s VMI at Mercer (10-6-2, 5-3-2) first-round matchup will face Furman in the SoCon semifinals on Friday, Nov. 13, at 6 p.m. in Johnson City, Tenn.
After Mercer’s Jeremy Booth saved back-to-back goal-bound headers from Kyle McLagan in the 27th minute, the Bears grabbed the lead at the 32:16 mark on Will Bagrou’s fifth goal of the season. Jordan Duru’s cross from the right was headed forward by Max Poore and Bagrou held off his defender before poking a shot past Paladin goalkeeper Sven Lissek.
Less than three minutes later, Booth denied Furman’s Bobby Edet on a point-blank look in the box to send Mercer into intermission with a 1-0 lead. Booth stopped shots from Edet and Eli Pinner in the second half before Furman found the equalizer with less than three minutes left in regulation. Marco Carrizales served a corner into the box that was flicked toward the right side of the box by Evan De Ycaza and into the path of Pahl. The Lakeland, Fla., native hammered a swerving shot across the face of the goal and into the left side netting for his first goal of the season at the 87:13 mark.
After there were few chances in the opening overtime period, Pinner nearly stole the points for Furman and handed the Paladins a SoCon regular-season title in the 105th minute, but his long-range rocket toward the lower right-hand corner was pushed wide by a diving Booth.
The Mercer netminder finished the night with eight saves, while Lissek stopped one shot for the Paladins. Furman managed a 16-7 lead in shot attempts and 9-2 advantage in shots on goal.
Prior to kickoff, Furman honored seniors Lissek, Tony Santibanez, Pahl, Tyler Peoples, Adrian McInnis, Michael Enos and Eric Steber, who were all playing their final match at Stone Stadium.
UNCG 1, ETSU 1 (2OT)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The UNCG men’s soccer team is back on top of the Southern Conference standings as the Spartans wrapped up the 2015 regular season as SoCon champions after posting a 1-1, double-overtime tie at ETSU on Saturday night. The tie, coupled with a 1-1 tie between Mercer and Furman, secured the regular-season title and the top seed in the upcoming SoCon Championship.
UNCG claimed the regular-season title by finishing the year with a 6-1-3 league record, good for 21 points, one in front of Furman, which finished the year 6-2-2. The Spartans closed out the regular season unbeaten in a league-best eight straight games, finishing 5-0-3 down the stretch to win the title. UNCG will get a bye into the semifinals of the SoCon tournament, where it will face the winner of ETSU/Wofford on Nov. 13 in Johnson City. The game will be streamed for free on the SoCon Digital Network. The 2015 SoCon tournament championship game is set for Nov. 15 on ESPN3 in Johnson City.
The Spartans, the second-highest scoring team in NCAA Division I men’s soccer entering the night, finished the game out-shooting the Buccaneers 23-4 in the tie, including a 5-0 edge in the overtime periods as they were pushing for the game-winning goal. ETSU goalkeeper Jonny Sutherland posted nine saves to earn the tie for the Buccaneers, marking the second time this season that UNCG and ETSU have ended in a 1-1 draw.
ETSU (7-6-3, 4-4-2 SoCon) took advantage of its first dangerous chance of the second half, taking a 1-0 lead in the 60th minute of play. Cameron Woodfin tracked down a long ball on the right-hand side and sent a cross into the 18-yard box. Fletcher Ekern was able to run onto the pass behind the Spartans defense and fired a shot past freshman goalkeeper Jon Milligan into the back of the net for his ninth goal of the year.
UNCG was able to answer right back just 3:40 later in the 63rd minute of play. Senior forward Jacques Francois received the ball at the top of the 18-yard box and maintained possession with a defender on his back before dropping a pass into the box. Junior forward Damieon Thomas ripped a curled shot around the post past Sutherland for his sixth tally of the year, tying the game at 1-1. The assist also ran Francois’ league-leading point total to 26 on the year with his 10th helper of the season.