9/22/17
The Bears hosted the Cavaliers from Montreat College Wednesday afternoon for the Bears’ first home conference match. Both teams were coming into the contest with winning records possessing only loss each.
The Bears dominated the opening minutes of the match. Joao Costa scored the first goal of the match on his third shot attempt in just the eighth minute of the match. Bears would continue the offensive pressure which led to another goal in the eleventh minute. Filipe Nunez scored the second goal of the match off of an assist from Jordan Moreno. Thanks to four saves by GK Evan Gaffney, the Bears were able to take their 2-0 lead into halftime.
Things would get chippy in the second half which had four cards given, two of which were red. Despite both teams playing with ten men at this point, the Bears were able to add on to their lead in the seventieth minute with another goal from Nunez which was assisted by Costa. Even though the score was 3-0, the match would be far from being decided. The Cavaliers scored their first goal of the match in the eighty-third minute and would tack on another two minutes later. Eventually time would run out and the Bears would hold on to win the match 3-2, giving them their first conference win in the 2017 campaign.
Coach Rob Miller was excited to get the victory even though he was concerned about the final few minutes of the day’s contest. “It was great to get the win and to finish in those early opportunities, but we still have improving to do and look to do that as we continue conference play next week and as we face a tough squad this Saturday.” The Bears’ next match will be home on Saturday September 23 at 2pm against Bethel University.
