SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College men's soccer team prevailed in an offense-heavy match, 4-3, over East Tennessee State on Tuesday night at Snyder Field.
Forward Matthew Aurednik scored his second goal of the match at the 60:06 mark in what proved to be the game-winner. Senior defender Ryan Hurst started the break from the right side with a perfect cross into junior midfielder Connor Davis. Davis headed the ball goal-bound, before the attempt was blocked away. Aurednik dove head-first into the ball, sinking it into the back right netting to give Wofford (5-3-0, 1-0-0) a 4-2 advantage heading into the final 30 minutes of play.
Aurednik's goals were his sixth and seventh of the year. The sophomore has netted four in his last two outings.
East Tennessee State (4-4-0, 0-1-0) did not go down without a fight. In the 74th minute of the match, Jorge De Gyves sent a long ball up the right side to Robin L'Excellent. L'Excellent drew sophomore keeper Garrett Closs out of position, beating him in the bottom-left corner of the goal. The Bucaneers would make a few more runs towards goal, but couldn't find the difference maker.
The match opened with a flurry of offense, both teams scoring twice in the first 18 minutes of action.
The Bucaneers started the scoring frenzy, with Nick Muth finding the back of the net in the fifth minute. Senior midfielder Jeremy Saad threw the ball inbounds to sophomore forward William Nordenstrom. Nordenstrom headed the ball up to Muth, who knocked it home with a strong knee.
Aurednik would strike back four minutes later for the Terriers. Kevin Hady settled a ball 25 yards out on the left side of the field. The junior defender sailed the ball into the box near the far post, where Aurednik launched a diving header past redshirt freshman Daniel Adelmen for the equalizer.
The Bucs Jaoa Ramalho put the visitors in the lead again in the16th minute, firing a ball from the left outside of the box into the top-right corner. Two minutes later, Carlos Dominguez-Gonzalez sent a corner in to the box, where Charlie Keeley slammed a header in to the bottom-left corner for his second career goal.
"It was tough to give up a goal early," seventh season head coach Ralph Polson answered when asked about the match. "It's been a priority of ours to strike early, so to find ourselves chasing the game was tough. Obviously having four goals, two apiece, in the first 18 minutes was crazy. I've known Bo [Oshoniyi] since his playing days, and we joked 20 minutes in that there might not be enough room on the scoreboard by the end of it. ETSU is a very talented team that's reached three NCAA tournaments in the last six years, so we knew they were a very capable group. The Southern Conference is a tough league, so we're glad to be headed into our next match with a win."
Junior midfielder Connor Davis found the final goal of the first 45 minutes. The goal bared resemblance to the Terriers' first goal of the match, with junior forward Nestor Jaramillo sending the cross in from the left this time. Davis buried the ball with a strong header, giving the Terriers a 3-2 into halftime. Both sides would score once more before the final whistle blew.
Wofford outshot ETSU 17-12, while the Bucs earned six corner kicks to the Terriers three. The two squads had 21 fouls, with the count lopsided; Wofford 17, ETSU four. ETSU's Corentin Ohlmann, Wofford's Will Puckett and Dominguez-Gonzalez each received yellow cards.
Closs had four saves in the 90 minutes, advancing his record to 4-3-0 on the season. The loss drops Adelman to 4-4-0 despite a six save performance.
The Terriers now prepare for a two game road stand, starting on Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. Wofford will play UNC Greensboro (0-7-2, 0-0-1) at UNCG Soccer Stadium, with kickoff at 7 p.m.
