Wednesday,
October 19, 2005
CATAWBA STAVES OFF NO. 15 TUSCULUM 2-1
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- With the South Atlantic Conference regular season
quickly winding down, the Catawba men’s soccer team clinched second place
in the league standings with a 2-1 victory over No. 15 Tusculum on Wednesday
at Pioneer Field. With the win, the
Indians move to 10-3-1 overall and 5-2-0 in the SAC, while the Pioneers slip
to 9-4-1 and 4-2-1 in the conference. (Box Score)
Catawba
took the pitch attacking, launching a number of early shots, some of which
came tantalizingly close to drawing net. The
Indians converted an opportunity in the 34th minute when Zay-Zay Gilewala (Monrovia, Liberia) challenged TC goalkeeper J.P. Swaminathan (Brampton, Ontario, Canada),
drawing him away from the goal. Gilewala
took advantage of the displaced Swaminathan, making a spectacular move around
the keeper and sending a shot into the unmanned net from about seven yards
out.
With
Catawba having carried a 1-0 advantage into the halftime period, the Indians
struck again in the 59th minute.
Jason Dumond (Coppell,
Texas) gathered the ball on the left wing
and crossed a spot-on pass to an attacking Gareth
Turnbull (Christchurch,
New Zealand),
who scored his 11th goal of the season to put Catawba up 2-0.
Shortly
after the Indians’ second goal, the Pioneers cut into the lead when Damion
Scott (Brampton, Ontario,
Canada) launched a 25-yard
free kick past Catawba keeper Dan Fitzgerald
(Seaford, Del.) to narrow the margin to 2-1.
Tusculum
had opportunities to tie the match, particularly when a Benyam
Kefleyessus (Minneapolis, Minn.) header thumped the chest of Fitzgerald
right under the cross bar. Nevertheless,
the Indians held their ground and came away with the victory.
Catawba
took 17 shots in the contest, while Tusculum
recorded 11. Swaminathan tallied five
saves for the Pioneers, and Fitzgerald had three for the Indians.
Tusculum
will next travel to West Virginia
for a pair of Appalachian Region matches, beginning with a contest at West
Virginia Wesleyan on Friday, Oct. 21. Kick-off
is set for 7:00 p.m. Catawba will also
contest a pair of regional matches, beginning with a home contest against
Salem International on Sunday, Oct. 23. The action is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
-TC-