No. 17 Men's Soccer Opens ECC Play With 4-2 Win Over District of Columbia
Box Score
WASHINGTON, DC (Sep. 15, 2012) – The No. 17 LIU Post men's soccer team won its East Coast Conference opener with a 4-2 win over an upset-minded University of District Columbia team, holding off a late effort by the Firebirds and remaining unbeaten on Saturday afternoon in the nation's capital.
The Pioneers improve to 6-0 to start the season, while the Firebirds fall to 3-2-1 overall. The ECC opener for both teams, the Pioneers are now 1-0 in conference play and UDC is 0-1.
After nearly 30 scoreless minutes to start the game, sophomore Eivind Austboe (Stavanger, Norway) scored off the rebound of a shot by Jonathan Watkin (Doncaster, England) at 29:16.
UDC tied the game just about five minutes later, when Moussa Traore headed in a direct kick by Ben Diaz at 34:04.
The Pioneers were awarded a penalty kick just before halftime, and Austboe made it count, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead at 43:23.
After a 14-4 shot advantage in the first half in favor of the Pioneers, the second half was dead even, with each team taking seven shots. Although the Pioneers took a 3-1 lead at 59:22 as Carl Lystad (Oslo, Norway) assisted on a breakaway goal by senior Andreas Olson (Oppeid, Norway), UDC cut the lead to just a goal in the 70th minute, with Adriel Garcia accounting for UDC's tally.
However, freshman Matias Ruiz (Southampton, N.Y.) provided a spark off the bench, intercepting a Firebird defender's pas and scoring his first collegiate goal at 88:31 to give the Pioneers a bit of a cushion and a 4-2 lead.
For the game, LIU Post held a 21-11 shot advantage along with a 7-1 differential in corner kicks. Pioneer junior goalkeeper Marco Jorgensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) made one save to earn the victory. UDC GK Omar Gonzalez turned away six shots and allowed four goals.
The Pioneers look to continue their undefeated start to the season as they host Dowling in an important ECC matchup, taking place on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.