After suffering its first loss of the season at the hands of South Carolina last Tuesday, the No. 17 Charlotte men’s soccer team rebounded and shut out Elon, 3-0, on Friday night.
The 49ers came out firing early with an aggressive attack on the offensive side of the ball and out-shot the Phoenix 18-7 in the game. Despite the early attack, Elon goalkeeper Nathan Dean stood his ground and kept the game scoreless through the end of the first half.
Elon was able to hold strong early on in the second half, but was no match for Charlotte’s junior midfielder Jennings Rex, who netted a pair of goals in the contest. The first of those two goals came in the 57th minute off a pass from senior forward Evan James.
Rex’s second goal, his third of the season, came just 10 minutes later. This time, he needed no help from his teammates as he slipped past the defender and beat the goalie to extend Charlotte’s lead to 2-0.
The 49ers improved to 3-1 in the season, while the Phoenix are still searching for their first win, sitting at 0-3-1 thus far.
Bluejays clip Rams
The Fordham men’s soccer team (2-1) put up a strong effort against No. 5 Creighton (4-0), but it wasn’t enough as the Rams fell short, 1-0, and suffered their first loss of the season.
Fordham’s senior goalkeeper, Ryan Meara, stopped a total of five shots from Bluejay forwards, allowing only one to slip past him in the 18th-minute off the left foot of Jose Gomez. Gomez’s opportunity came after a Fordham corner kick was intercepted. From there, Liam Kelly passed to Gomez, who found the upper corner of the net to give Creighton a 1-0 lead. It proved to be all the Bluejays needed.
Meara held his ground thereafter, keeping Fordham in the game, but the Rams weren’t able to capitalize on his efforts. Fordham goalkeeper Brian Holt stopped all six shots that came his way, and the Rams dropped their first game of the season.
Bonnies hold on in OT
After falling behind early in the first half, the St. Bonaventure men’s soccer team (3-3) came back to defeat High Point (1-2-1) in overtime, 2-1, thanks to a game-winning shot by sophomore Emmett O’Connor.
A mere 52 seconds into overtime, O’Connor gained possession of the ball, dribbled into the zone and put a 10-yard kick past High Point goalkeeper Michael Chesler to give the Bonnies the victory.
The Panthers started out quickly, leaping to an early lead on an Alex Martinez goal. The Bonnies responded right away, however, when James Reed scored to tie the game at one apiece. From there on, it was a back-and-forth struggle as both teams looked to find any way to break the tie. Despite the effort, neither team managed to find the back of the net in regulation.
High Point pressured the Bonnies throughout the contest, but ultimately, it was the extra effort by O’Connor that won out. Brad Vanino sent a pass across the middle which set him up for the game-winner and completed the dramatic overtime comeback.
Nick Canelas can be reached at [email protected].
