University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
USC Upstate
Spartans Edge Bulldogs 2-1
09.16.2009 | Men's Soccer
The Spartans (1-3-0) scored both of their goals in the first 25 minutes and made that stand up for their first win of the season.
The Bulldogs (1-4-1) got on the board in the 85th minute as red-shirt freshman Eli Morrow scored the first goal of his career. Asheville came close to tying in twice in the final five minutes but could not get the ball into the back of the net.
"This is a disappointing result," commented Asheville coach Steve Cornish. "We let Upstate dominate us in the first half and though we played better in the second half it was not enough. You have to be ready to play 90 minutes and be ready to play from the start."
USC Upstate scored its first goal after a corner kick. The Spartans got the ball into the box where John Kadane tallied his first goal of the year at the 5:58 mark for a 1-0 lead for Upstate. Hakeem King and Nick Buxton were credited with assists on the goal.
The Spartans got the game-winner at 25:53 when Timo Foerster connected on a shot from 10 yards out for a 2-0 lead. Assists went to Erkan Yildirim and Tim Bailey.
Upstate had a 6-2 edge in shots at halftime. Bulldog goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen made a big save late in the first half on a shot from Yildirim to keep Asheville in the match.
The Bulldogs played much better and with more energy in the second half. However, goalkeeper Pat Regna was able to keep the home team off the scoreboard for most of the half.
That changed when a ball came out to Morrow. He unloaded a shot from 15 yards out that hit the left goalpost and caromed into the goal at 85:46 to cut the lead to 2-1.
Asheville had two more high-quality chances but could not get the equalizer.
Asheville travels to Nashville this weekend to compete in the Hyatt Place Select Invitational. They'll play at Lipsomb Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST and then play Belmont on Sunday at Noon CST at Lipscomb.
