The University of West Alabama men's soccer team defeated the Florida Southern Mocs in a neutral site match in Huntsville today by a score of 2-1.
Offense was not an issue for either squad on the pitch today, as the match's first shot was taken in the 2nd minute by FSC's Trevor Sander but was saved by West Alabama's Lasse Schwieren. The Tigers answered quickly, as the ever-aggressive Adrian Evrard took a shot at it in the 5th minute but was saved by the Mocs Lasse Dettmer. Felix Tonne decided to get in on the action for FSC, taking a shot in the 8th minute but missing the top left. The Tigers' Baroni Kengeye answered in the 9th minute, but also missed.
After 17 minutes of back and forth, The Tigers got on the board first, with an unassisted goal by Adrian Evrard. FSC's Felix Tonne wasted no time chiming in again, taking a shot in 19th minute that missed top right. West Alabama continued their aggressive approach, with Baroni Kengeye taking a shot at the goal, but was saved by FSC's Dettmer again.
The Tigers and Mocs would continue to trade shots, with impressive goal protection by UWA's Lasse Schwieren and FSC's Lasse Dettmer, including a penalty kick save from Schwieren in the 39th minute. The Mocs finally cracked West Alabama's defenses, courtesy of Mathias Kjolner, assisted by Felix Aakerberg.
The Tigers answered almost immediately with a goal by Killian Griffin assisted by Potein Lembo. As swiftly as Florida Southern tied things up, West Alabama jumped right back ahead at the end of the first half.
The Second forty-five would be quite scrappy, with eight cards given out, twelve total in the match. The Tigers showed extreme toughness, finishing the match with only nine players. Despite the two-man advantage in Florida Southern's favor, the Tigers would not budge defensively, allowing no goals in the second half on 8 shots from Florida Southern.
"I'm so proud of every single one of my players today. The character and togetherness they showed was unbelievable! We said before the game that it was all about having a strong mentality, and that's exactly what they gave us,"
"We were up against it from the start. On the road, against a top team, in the heat, then go down to nine men and still go on to win the game was something special," said Head Coach Ross Nelson.
The lads will travel back home Friday night to face off with Lee University in their GSC (Gulf South Conference) Opener. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.
