MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Baronyi Kengeye came alive late in the second half to lift the West Alabama men's soccer team to the 2-1 road win at Auburn Montgomery in Gulf South Conference play on Friday evening.
Auburn Montgomery collected the first goal of the game in the 28th minute and it looked like that goal might stand up. Kengeye then got loose for the tying goal in the 78th minute when he took a pass from Patrick Sacher, the reigning GSC Offensive Player of the Week, and connected on the tying goal. Then when it looked like the game might end in a draw, Kengeye was at it again when he ripped home the game-winning goal in the 89th minute off of assists from Sacher and Peter Oyetunji.
AUM (4-5-2, 4-3-1 GSC) started the offensive pressure tallying several shots over the opening minutes. Sacher was able to turn the table getting a shot on goal in the 9th minute. That would be the final shot for UWA (4-2-5, 4-0-4 GSC) for awhile before Yannick Pohland and Adrian Evrard each had their shots blocked around the 27th minute. Right after that, the Warhawks broke through with the first goal scored by Phillip Spickenbaum in the 28th minute.
Down the stretch of the opening half, Sacher had another chance that was saved leaving AUM with the 1-0 lead at the break.
It was tough sledding over the first seven-plus minutes of the second half before either team was able to generate a shot when Brandon Marquez's shot was saved. Shortly after, Pohland had an attempt blocked.
The Tiger defense turned away a couple of chances in the 57th minute with a block and then save by Harry Deveney.
UWA kept the pressure coming. After a few chances just missed, Kengeye evened the score in the 78th minute off of a goal kick that helped flip the field.
The teams then traded chances with two shots blocked for UWA and then two shots blocked for AUM. With the game ticking down to the final minutes, a chance by Sacher was blocked in the 87th minute. Right after that, off another goal kick, Kengeye was there to capitalize off of two great passes to score the game-winning goal in the 89th minute.
UWA held the 14-11 edge in shots and six to four on goal. Each team took seven corner kicks and there were 20 combined fouls, with 11 whistled on the Tigers.
Sacher led the way with three shots on goal, while Pohland, Evrard and Kengeye added two shots apiece. Sacher and Kengeye had two shots on goal each. Nine players tallied a shot on goal for the Tigers. In goal, Deveney added another winning coming up with three saves.
Charlie Elliott led AUM with three shots. Alexander Kraus started in goal and took the loss allowing two goals and coming up with three saves.
With the win and other results in the GSC on Friday, UWA vaults to first-place in the conference with 16 points, holding a one-point lead over both Montevallo and West Florida.
The win over AUM is the first for UWA in the past six meetings, as the Warhawks had gone 2-0-3 against the Tigers in the previous five meetings. That last win was in 2017 that also took place in Montgomery.
UWA will return home to host Montevallo in a big home conference matchup this Sunday evening inside Tiger Stadium for Senior Day starting at 7 p.m. in Livingston.
