Cuero scored two game-winning goals in games against George Washington and Richmond two weeks ago, on his way to winning A-10 Player of the Week honors. In addition, Cuero also earned TopDrawerSoccer.com’s National Team of the Week honors for the second time in his four-year career.
The 49ers are trying to improve on a conference record last year that landed them in fourth place in A-10 play. Helping with the cause, alongside Cuero are points leaders Tyler Gibson, Donnie Smith, Evan James and Will Maythew. All have at least two goals and two assists, while Gibson leads the pack with four goals and three assists.
Charlotte is coming off a 3-1 win Friday vs. Saint Louis. After an early goal by Saint Louis in the 13th minute, the 49ers responded with three unanswered goals to come away with the victory.
For the first score, Maythew assisted Gibson on a long cross that was headed in for a goal in the 23rd minute. The second goal was also a header, set up by Cuero and finished by Charles Rodriguez. The third goal came seven minutes later in the 79th minute, when Maythew assisted Cuero for his team leading fifth goal.
The 49ers are now 10-4 overall and are ranked 21st nationally. They finish the season with four home games all against conference opponents.
Rhody’s Woes Continue
Rhode Island’s 1-0 loss at Temple on Sunday keeps them at the bottom of the A-10 Conference (2-10-2, 0-4-2 A-10). Temple’s goal came on the leg of Andrew Dodds in the 64th minute, as URI managed just two shots on goal the entire game.
The Rams have only scored seven goals all season compared to 25 goals against and lack a consistent goal scorer. The team leader in goals, Jamie Eckmayer has only two goals on the season.
The Rams have two upcoming games at home against La Salle on Friday and Fordham on Sunday. They must capitalize on the upcoming home stretch because they follow with two games on the road to close out their season, and are 0-7 in away games thus far.
With 17 returning players from last year’s team, which finished 9-9-2 overall and 6-3 in A-10 play, the Ram’s season has not been a success so far this season.
Road to the Final Six
In a league of 13, only six qualify for the A-10 Championship.
With only four games left in the season for most teams, the outcome of this upcoming week’s games will be crucial for a number of teams within the A-10.
The third through seventh place teams in the conference all share a 3-2 record and the 10th-ranked team in the conference, Saint Louis, is 2-3 in the A-10.
Fordham visits Massachusetts on Friday afternoon, as both stand at second and third in the conference with UMass ahead (5-3-6, 4-0-1 A-10).
The 49ers (10-4-0, 5-0-0) take on Saint Joseph’s hopes to ride the wave of A-10 Player of the Week Colin Baker and pull off the upset.
The Billikens are the defending champion from last year’s A-10 Championship, but find themselves fighting for a birth this year to even get into the tournament. They play Missouri-Kansas City at home Tuesday night.
The champion of the A-10 Conference Championship also wins an automatic bid into the 48-team field for the NCAA tournament. Both SLU and the 49ers qualified last year but lost close matches in the first round.
Teddy Reagan can be reached at [email protected].
