University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Campbell
Men's Soccer Downs Campbell for Fourth Straight Win
11.08.2014 | Men's Soccer
BOX SCORE
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's soccer team defeated Campbell, 2-0 in the Big South regular season finale to clinch sixth place in the upcoming conference tournament.
The Bulldogs improve to 5-8-3 overall and 3-4-2 in league play, while Campbell falls to 5-12-0 and 2-7-0 in the Big South play.
“I am really proud of the group finding a way to defeat a very talented Campbell team on the road,” said head coach Matt Kern. “I thought we started very sharply, and defended very well collectively. Victor Aguiar scored two wonderful goals, and Dan Jackson was very tidy in goal to keep our third clean sheet in a row.”
”We are thankful to have secured the No. 6 seed in the Big South Conference Championship. The boys are looking forward to competing against a powerful and speedy High Point team on Tuesday night in the Quarterfinals. I believe we are a better team than we were six weeks ago, and it should be an entertaining match.”
Asheville weathered an early first half storm from the Camels who were on the attack for much of the half, attempting seven shots in the first 40 minutes. However, it was the Bulldogs who jumped out to a 1-0 in the 41st minute on what coach Kern described as “on one of the best goals of the year.” Victor Aguiar collected the ball in the middle of the field after Zach Joens hooked a pass into him from the left flank. Aguiar took a couple of touches to gather himself and unleashed a rocket off his left foot from 25 yards out and into the top left corner of the net.
Campbell finished the first half with a 9-3 advantage in shots. Dan Jackson recorded four saves in the half, allowing the offense to send the Bulldogs into the half with the lead.
As it has done throughout the current four-game winning streak, the Bulldog defense had to stand up to a barrage of shots from Campbell in the second half. Dan Jackson came up with five second half saves, including a one-on-one save on Reafe Anderson who tried to beat the senior goalkeeper low and to his left but Jackson did enough to push the shot past the post.
Victor Aguiar tacked on a second goal in the 75th minute to give Asheville a two goal lead. Tevin Beckwith combined with Andrew Sotak before sending a cross into Aguiar who gathered nicely with his first touch and then shot low across the goal.
Jackson needed to come up with one more save to keep a clean sheet for the third straight match. Campbell's Matt Martinez stepped into a shot from 40 yards out in the 84th minute, which forced Jackson to show off his athleticism to make his ninth save of the match to seal the game.
The Bulldogs will be back in action on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. when they travel to Vert Stadium for a rematch with High Point in the quarterfinals of the Big South Men's Soccer Championships.
