Fighting Tigers weather storm in 2-1 victory over Broward
CUTHBERT, Ga. -- Lalo Magana (Gainesville, Ga.) opened his collegiate scoring mark with a freak goal from over 30-yards to send Andrew College men's soccer (2-0-0) to a 2-1 victory over (RV) Broward College (1-1-0) in the final match of the 2015 Kickoff Classic on Friday, Aug. 21 at Hord Athletic Complex.
"The result was a good one," stated head coach Rudy Roediger. "But we have a long way to go before we are truly playing the way we need to."
Broward opened the 2015 season as one of 17 teams to receive votes just outside the Top-20 in the NJCAA Division I preseason poll. Last year Broward received votes in 6-of-12 national polls including a stretch of being ranked six times between Sept. 9 and Oct. 21. In 2014 Broward went 6-5-1 overall with a 0-2-1 mark in Region 8 play.
Andrew dominated possession through the opening half, but was outshot 13 to 4 in the first 45 minutes.
George Cunha (Pompano Beach, Fla.) collected seven saves to keep the explosive Seahawks off the score line in the first 45 minute period. Broward opened the 2015 season with a 6-0 dominating win over Patrick Henry in the 2015 Kickoff Classic the day before.
After a Broward foul, Alan Caballero (Buford, Ga.), switched the play and found Magana on the wing. Magana, one of the four members of the 2015 AAA Georgia High School State Championship squad from West Hall High School charged forward before sending a swerving shot over the helpless Julian Toro to give Andrew an impressive 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.
After an impressive debut, Connor Heydon (New South Wales, Australia) continued his high-level play and found Lewis Jones for an easy finish at the back post to give the Fighting Tigers a commanding 2-0 lead in the 36th minute. Heydon picked the ball up and burst forward past several Broward defenders before sending a pointed pass through a dummy set by Simon Cobian to Jones who finished calmly.
With just under 13 minutes remaining bad weather came and disrupted the match for over an hour. After the teams resumed just after 2 p.m. Broward found new life and attacked with intensity and determination. The work paid dividends as Juan Vivas put back a rebound with six minutes remaining to put the result for Andrew in doubt.
As Cunha recorded 12 saves and the defense stood tall to and blanked the nation's leading scorer, Elijah Larin and closed out the match for a second consecutive 2-1 victory over a team receiving votes in the 2015 NJCAA Division I Preseason National Poll. With the loss, Broward falls to 1-1-0 on the season and will return to action on Wednesday with a road match at Ava Maria University.
The Fighting Tigers will return to action on Friday, Aug. 28 and Saturday, Aug. 29 when they hit the road for a pair of away matches against East Central CC (Miss.) and Holmes CC (Miss.) at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. EST respectively.
NOTES
- Andrew College moves to 2-0-0 against teams receiving votes in the 2015 NJCAA Division I Preseason National Poll.
- The Fighting Tigers move to 2-0-0 in one goal games.
- Andrew College remains undefeated at home in 2015 with back-to-back 2-1 victories.
- Four different first-year players have scored for AC through its first two matches.
- 16 Newcomers have appeared in at least one game for the Fighting Tigers.