Railsplitters Fall To Bobcats To Suffer First Loss Of The Season
September 4, 2009
BANNER ELK, N.C. – Freshman Luke Perry scored the game-winning goal in 56th minute for the Lees-McRae College Bobcats men’s soccer team in a 2-1 win over the Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters Friday night at Tate Field in a nonconference match.
The Bobcats had the first real chance of the match when Perry sent a shot high over the crossbar in the seventh minute from inside ten yards. The Railspiltters best shot of the first half came when Fernando Silverra set a bending ball just under the crossbar, forcing Bobcat keeper Sean Paradise to make a brilliant save.
The LMU men fired off 11 first half shots compared to three for Lees-McRae and made it look as though it were just a matter of time before they took the upper hand.
Four minutes into the second half, the Bobcats struck first with a goal from Berin Boracic, which was his second of the season. Luke Staats took the ball down the field and fired a cross that Jamie Bladen struck. Lincoln Memorial’s keeper, Michael Watkins, made the save on Bladen’s ball, but Boracic was there for the rebound to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
At the 52:31 minute mark, a Bobcat player made a hard tackle resulting in a red card and one player from each team earning a yellow card. This gave the Railsplitters a man-up advantage for the remainder of the match.
Despite the advantage, LMC's Richard Guffins put a Jamie Price free kick on goal, forcing LMU keeper Michael Watkins to again make a save and leaving Perry wide open to collect to rebound and the goal in the 56th minute. The goal was Perry’s second of the season and Guffins earned his third assist of the year.
The Railsplitters closed the margin to 2-1 in the 63rd minute on a Brito Martins goal. LMU sophomore Jemal Talore had the assist on the play, but Lees-McRae held the lead over the final 27 minutes to earn the win.
The Railsplitters outshot the Bobcats 26-7 and held the corner kick advantage 5-1.
Paradise collected 11 saves to earn his third win of the season in goal, while Watkins made three saves in the loss.
LMU will next face King next Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Burch-Nau Field on the Union College campus in Barbourville, Kentucky. The game was originally scheduled to be played in Harrogate but field conditions necessitated the move.'
