Winthrop Men's Soccer Notches Win on Friday
Winthrop Notches 5-1 Win Over North Florida
BOILING SPRINGS, NC-- Freshman Matthew Skonicki began his collegiate career with a bang on Friday as he recorded a hat trick to lead Winthrop to a 5-1 victory over North Florida in the first game of the JAKO Classic hosted by Gardner-Webb. Junior forward Saidi Isaac, the 2006 Preseason Player of the Year in the Big South Conference, was serving a red card suspension carried over from last season and that gave Skonicki the opportunity to start the match. Kkonicki, from Largo, FL, scored three consecutive goals on his way to the hat trick. The first came in the 31st minute as Daniel Revivo's pass put Skonicki one-on-one with the goalie and he slipped it by, giving Winthrop a 2-0 lead before halftime. In the 59th minute, Skonicki put the Eagles up 3-0 as he fired home a shot from 18-yards out that hit off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net. The hat trick was completed in the 62nd minute as Skonicki slipped behind the Ospreys defense as Dave Carton's pass connected with Skonicki and he beat the goalie to the near post for the goal. Winthrop (1-0) opened the scoring in the 27th minute as Otto Loewy headed home a cross from Stephen Nsereko. In the 79th minute, Nsereko scored his first collegiate goal as he took a service from David Kenga and placed the ball into the net to put the Eagles up 5-0. Just a minute later the Eagles bid for a shutout was lost as Mats Elmsater was left wide open in the middle of the field and he blasted a one-time shot from 30 yards off the left post and into the net. Skonicki nearly had four goals on the day as he was robbed in the 53rd minute by North Florida goalie Michael Frost. Skonicki found himself all alone front of the net with a header he placed on frame, but Frost made a leaping save. Kenga and Revivo both finished the day with two assists and Patrick Mitrovich made two saves in 73 minutes of action. The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday as they will face Gardner-Webb at 5 p.m. in the final game of the JAKO Classic.
High Point Ties Gardner-Webb, 1-1 in Season Opener
High Point opened the men’s soccer season with a 1-1 tie against Gardner-Webb on Friday night in the first game of the 2006 JAKO Classic tournament . The contest started out as a battle as both teams played aggressively, with each team looking to score fast and often. However, the first period settled down into a well-balanced game as High Point and Gardner-Webb got off six and five shots, respectively, and each team’s keeper reeled in two saves for the half.
In the second period, the Bulldogs broke through first as Richard Godfrey and Miguel Pinzon hooked up at the 49:52 mark to score the first goal of the contest and give GWU a 1-0 lead. On the play, Godfrey hit a cutting Pinzon with a pass at the top of the box who then put the shot past the High Point goalkeeper, scoring his first career goal as a Bulldog. However, the Panthers did not quit. In the 55th minute High Point’s Chris Archer put a shot in the box off a free kick, hitting a leaping Hilaire Babou who headed the ball past GWU’s Tyler Kettering and into the back of the net evening up the score at 1-1. With the scored tied, both Gardner-Webb and High Point had opportunities to score the go-ahead-goal, but were unable to capitalize on those opportutunities. Panther goalkeeper, Adam Ross had seven saves on the night while Bulldog keeper recorded six. High Point will return to the field on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. when they face North Florida on the second day of the JAKO Classic.
BSC Men’s Soccer falls to Lipscomb in overtime
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Lipscomb University, 1-0, scored two goals in the final five minutes of regulation to force overtime and then netted the game winner in the first overtime to secure a 3-2 comeback win over Birmingham-Southern here at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex on Friday night. The Panthers, 0-1, scored two first half goals to take a 2-0 lead. Former Shades Valley standout Jon-Pierre Anthony scored his first collegiate goal on an assist from Gino Cozzolino. Martin DeVaney added the second goal again off a feed from Cozzolino. Lipscomb’s first goal came with 5:01 to play in the second half and the equalizer was scored on a penalty kick with just over two minutes remaining. BSC returns to action at Western Kentucky on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Charlotte Edges Men's Soccer, 2-1
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Charlotte scored a goal in each half and then hung on from there to pull out a 2-1 non-conference men's collegiate soccer win over homestanding UNC Asheville Friday afternoon at Greenwood Field. The 49ers (1-0-0) got a goal from Evan Harding in the first 10 minutes of the match and a goal from Pete Palomino early in the second half to build a 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs picked up a goal from sophomore Ian Wilmot with 23 minutes left and then got a break when Charlotte midfielder Chris Arnold was given a red card one minute later. UNC Asheville dominated the final 20 minutes but 49ers goalkeeper Tim Seibert made a key save late in the match to preserve the win. The opening goal of the match came on a corner kick. Blake Smith sent a corner kick into the box and Harding was there to tap the ball into the goal at the 9:12 mark. The 49ers dominated most of the first half as they built a 7-1 shot advantage but Asheville goalkeeper Judd Lawrence made some nice saves to keep the Bulldogs within one goal. The Dogs got the final three shots of the half but could not score. Asheville just missed tying the match early in the second half when a Sho Yamagishi shot went wide. The 49ers countered and scored an unassisted goal when Palomino scored off a rebound at the 57:21 mark. The Bulldogs (0-1-0) got on the board when Yamagishi sent a pass to Wilmot who cranked in a shot from 20 yards out to cut the lead to 2-1 at the 67:51 mark. Asheville got the final four shots of the match and just missed tying the game when Nicholas Baud's drive from 25 yards out was turned away by Seibert with eight minutes remaining. UNC Asheville plays next at Gardner-Webb on Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. Charlotte has its home opener against College of Charleston Monday night at 6:30 p.m.
Coastal Men's Soccer Falls to Oakland in Season Opener
ROCHESTER, MICH. -- The Coastal Carolina University men’s soccer team took on the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies Friday Aug. 25 to start their regular season play. The Chanticleers fell to the Grizzlies with a score of 1-0. The Golden Grizzlies earned a corner kick in the fifth minute of the game. Ian Daniel took the kick from Adam Kliebert and shot the ball past the Chants to score the only goal of the contest. The Chanticleers recorded five shots with junior midfielders, Mkhokheli Dube (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe/Lindsey Wilson) and Robert Holstein (Middleburg, Fla./St. John’s County/Queen’s Univ. of Charlotte) each taking two and junior Patrick Robertson (Woodlands Texas/Woodlands) taking one. The goal keeper for the contest was senior Jeremy Wolfgang (Reading, Pa./Wilson) who recorded one save. The Chants are back in action on Sunday Aug. 27 at 2:30 p.m. where they will take on the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.