GEORGETOWN, TEXAS - Southwestern University Men's Soccer picked up a massive victory at home on Sunday afternoon against University of Lynchburg, 3-1. The win marks back-to-back seasons the Pirates have dismantled a nationally ranked squad for a big stepping stone toward the goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament as the Pirates moved to 2-1 on the year.
The Pirates scheduled the Hornets this summer as this game was circled as a huge moment to prove themselves as they were one of the first team selected out of the tournament last season. They also desperately needed to bounce back from a loss to East Texas Baptist University on Friday, while the Hornets took down Texas Lutheran University.
Lynchburg held possession and control of pace to start the game. However, the Pirates settled in and finally pounced in the 30th minute.
Brady Faulkner's pace got behind the Hornets defense and crossed a ball perfectly to
Grey Richards who finished the header inside the six. All of the momentum was in the Pirates hands before the Hornets struck in the 42nd minute. Lynchburg drew a foul 25 yards out and as the Pirates failed to get setup in time, the Hornets passed a quick restart wide which lead to an easy finish past
TJ Bass.
Despite the back breaking goal before half, Southwestern came out and dominated the pace and effort in the second half. They knocked on the door for 26 minutes before the youth cemented themselves off the bench.
Oziel Lozano sent a ball into the mixer, while
Pierre Mazzawi cleaned up a ricochet to take the 2-1 lead. The Southwestern bench erupted as the goal encapsulated a moment of arrival for the duo along with the rest of the reserves who were magnificent today.
Southwestern refused to lay back after goal with multiple shots at the insurance goal. Richards finally put the Hornets to bed in the 84th minute on a well-timed through ball pass from
Daniel Sartorio.
GAME NOTES
- The Pirates have won two of their past three nationally ranked games after taking down #17 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps last season.
- Southwestern dominated the energy with 12 shots on goal.
- Richards was a menace beating the Hornets to every ball, scoring his seventh and eighth career goals in only 23 career games.
- Three different freshman contributed to goals or assists.
- 19 different Pirates played on the scorching hot day as the Hornets failed to keep up with the Pirates pace.
UP NEXT
Southwestern travels south to TLU next Friday night at 7 p.m. The squad returns home to take on University of La Verne next Sunday at 7 p.m.
