Saturday, August 20, 2005

Goodlettsville, Tenn. – The Belmont men’s soccer team picked up its second consecutive exhibition shutout with a 1-0 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon at Moss-Wright Soccer Complex in Goodlettsville.

Play in the first half of action remained fairly even with both teams forcing the opponent onto their side of the field for significant amounts of time. However neither team was able to convert, despite booting a combined 15 shots in the first stanza. A strong effort by sophomore Ian Schinelli (Naperville, Ill.) nearly earned Belmont its first goal of the night.

In the second half, the Bruins became much more aggressive offensively. Senior Mark Photivihok set the pace early. Commodore netminder Kenny Schoeni stepped out of the box, leaving the goal unprotected. Photivihok moved in for the kill but Vanderbilt’s Justin Shepard blocked the nearly inevitable goal.

Senior Channing Twyner (Jackson, Miss.) was responsible for Belmont’s next two scoring chances. On the first, his kick was too high, barely scraping the crossbar before being pushed over by Schoeni. The second time around, Twyner pushed up the middle with a pass from rookie Mete Ozkan (Sarasota, Fla.) only to angle the ball this time too far to the right, smacking into the bar with a resounding echo.

Finally, the gamewinner came from senior Drew Ducker, who is ironically a transfer from Vanderbilt. He picked up a pass up the middle from junior Eric Susewind (Houston, Texas), his second of the preseason, and easily pushed by Schoeni.

The teams were nearly even in several statistical categories – shots (11 by Belmont, 12 by Vanderbilt), goalkeeper saves (three by Belmont, five by Vanderbilt), offsides (one each), and corner kicks (four by Belmont, six by Vanderbilt).

“Vanderbilt played well in first half,” said Head Coach Earle Davidson. “Once we settled down in late part of the firs half and figured out how to play in heat, we did well. We controlled pace in second half and made them chase us. We also defended aggressively.”

“Drew made a smart run, Susewind played a good ball for him and it was a great goal. It really played into his strengths as a forward,” Davidson said.

The Bruins return to action for their final exhibition match of the season on Saturday, August 27th as they host Sewanee at Whitten Soccer Complex. Match time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.