CONWAY, S.C. – The Wofford Men's Soccer team (1-2-0) grabbed their first win of the season at Coastal Carolina (1-1-0), 5-2, on Sunday night in their first of a two away game stretch.
First Half
The Chanticleers came off the kickoff with high energy, connecting their passes into Wofford's defensive third, leading to a fifth minute goal from Angel Lopez. The Terriers took the next few minutes to settle into the match, dominating the majority of possession, and creating multiple key chances. After a Coastal clearance, Wofford was awarded a corner kick in the 15th minute.
Kalle Rahbek served the ball into the box to find an open
Max Talley who headed the ball off the far post and in for the first goal of the season.
Neither team slowed down after the early goals, creating chance after chance in their opposition's box. A poor clearance from CCU in the 30th minute gave the ball back to the Terriers deep in their half, allowing
Edvin Laangdahl to play a wall pass with
Nathan Simes, placing a shot with his left foot for his first career goal, giving the Terriers their first lead of the season. Three minutes later,
Pepe Hinterschuster cleared the ball to the other side of the field, over the last defender's head, allowing
Declan Mettee to chase the ball. With one touch, the Junior forward was able to get the ball around the keeper for a simple left foot finish to close out scoring for the half.
Second Half
Just thirty seconds into the half, Laangdahl tripped up a CCU midfielder to be shown a yellow. Not even five minutes later, A Chanticleer found themselves in the referee's book. Wofford took a defensive approach to the second half, absorbing the pressure from CCU. Despite their best efforts, the Terriers thwarted everything the Chants could through at them.
One of the best chances of the half came from a routine corner finding the head of
Nathan Simes, only to be called offsides. He did not let this discourage him and found the net a few minutes later after a pass from Rahbek, his second assist of the night. In the dying embers of the match, Coastal snagged a goal after a great shot by Loed Klassen. Momentum did not shift as Wofford found the back of the net one last time after some fancy footwork from
Stewart Patnaud led to a great pass to the New Zealand native, Simes.
Quote from Coach Ryan Osborne
"Really proud of the team for the resilience the team showed to fight back from a goal down. Proud of their effort and the way they fought and competed in each and every moment. Defensively we put our bodies on the line and played with maturity in key moments. I thought that we played some really nice soccer at times and to score 5 goals was brilliant. We will enjoy the victory and re-focus for a tough trip to Longwood on Friday".
Inside the Numbers
- Talley scored the first goal of the Ryan Osborne era with his first shot of the season.
- Wofford had more shots on goal in the first half (3), then their last two games combined (1).
- Laangdahl scored the first goal of his career.
- Simes reached ten career goals, his sixth with the Terriers, with his two goals tonight.
Next Up
The Terriers return to action on Friday, September 5, in Farmville, Virginia. Wofford travels to the Longwood Lancers at 7:30 p.m. with all action streaming exclusively on ESPN+.
