GREENWOOD – In a match that began just before 9:00 on Saturday night due to weather delays, the Lander men's soccer team picked up its first win of the season and head coach
Paul Leese collected win No. 1 at Lander as the Bearcats topped North Greenville at Van Taylor Stadium.
It wasn't without drama as LU won 3-2 in a game that featured a pair of penalty kicks and a late NGU shot that careened off the far post which would have tied the game.
Felipe Costa (16th minute),
Orran Mushet (33rd) and
Declan Okwu (43rd) all scored in the first half to give Lander a two-goal lead at halftime. Costa was set up beautifully by
Savvas Chionakis in the box on a nifty heel pass. Mushet's score was of the PK variety and Okwu buried his shot from inside the box after
Mateo Scialacomo worked it back to him.
The Trailblazers were awarded a penalty kick in the 51st minute and trimmed their gap to a single goal in the process. But Lander's defense held serve the rest of the way and didn't allow a shot on net over the final 39 minutes. The 83rd minute, though, was nearly perilous when the Trailblazers sent a ball deep into the Bearcats' defensive half.
In an attempt by Lander to head the ball out, it instead wound up right in the lap of Eduardo Forte, who scored NGU's first goal. Forte ripped a shot that bounced beyond the dive of Lander keeper
James Docherty but hit off the post in a stroke of good luck for the Bearcats.
Lander will strive to ride this wave of momentum into a matchup with a familiar foe in seventh-ranked North Georgia on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The PBC kick-off in Dahlonega is slated for 6:30 p.m.
