GREENWOOD – In midweek Peach Belt Conference action on Wednesday night at Van Taylor Stadium, the Lander men's soccer team was defeated 2-1 by USCA.
The Bearcats (3-4-2, 2-2-1 PBC) seemed to have the upper-hand throughout most of the night, as evidenced by their generation of a whopping 17 corner-kicks to just four for the Pacers (3-5, 2-4 PBC). Lander also outshot USCA by a 16-11 margin – though the visitors put seven on target compared to LU's four.
Despite that, the match was tied at 1 apiece in the 83rd minute. It was then that a Pacer intercepted an LU pass in their own attacking zone. A quick pass into the box found USCA's Melvin Maboungou, who struck his shot past
Ionas Giovanidis for what proved to be the game-winner.
Robin Swagemakers was almost the hero 12 minutes prior.
Savvas Chionakis crossed one to him right in front of the goal, and even though his shot was blocked by a Pacer defender, it trickled toward the goal line before it was kicked out by another Pacer.
Chionakis was instrumental in getting Lander off to a rollicking start in the sixth minute by capitalizing on a USCA miscue as they were trying to work the ball out of their defensive zone. Collecting a loose ball at the penalty arc, Chionakis had one man to beat – the keeper – and did so to put the Bearcats on top, 1-0.
USCA tied the match with a corner-kick goal in the 27th minute as the teams went into halftime knotted up.
Giovanidis earned his first start of the season and made five saves while facing 11 shots.
Lander travels to Americus, Ga., this Saturday (Oct. 3) to face Georgia Southwestern at 7 p.m. The Bearcats beat the Hurricanes 2-0 at home on Sept. 12.
