College of Charleston
Northern Illinois
Men?s Soccer Sweeps Furman Diadora/Spinx Tournament
9/6/2015 9:34:00 PM | Men's Soccer
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Behind three unanswered first half goals, the College of Charleston men's soccer team downed Northern Illinois, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon at Stone Soccer Stadium. The Cougars second straight victory gives them a weekend sweep at the Furman University Diadora/Spinx Tournament and crowns them overall tournament champions.
“What a great weekend for the team and our entire program,” head coach Ralph Lundy said. “The boys earned both of these hard fought wins and I am very proud of our effort. We allowed a goal early in the game but we didn't let that affect us. Eli Dent got us back in game with his goal beautiful goal followed by greats goals from Nicolas and Tucker. Alex Young and our defense played a great second half of defense and really played well all weekend.”
The Cougars (3-1) started out the game with a defensive breakdown, allowing NIU forward Giovanni Pacheco to find the back of the net from eight yards out just nine minutes into regulation. Junior midfielder Eli Dent (Charleston, S.C.) responded for CofC just five minutes later with a goal of his own in the 15th minute that was set up by forward Adan Noel (La Brea, Trinidad) to tie the game at one apiece.
CofC outshot the Huskies 11-8 throughout the match including an 8-3 advantage in the first half. In the 35th minute, junior midfielder Nicolas Jeausseran (Villeneuve Loubet, France) received a free kick from 20 yards out and curled the ball right past the NIU keeper into the left corner for his first career goal.
The College tacked on its last goal 32 seconds before halftime when senior defender Tucker Coons (Alpharetta, Ga.) buried a header at the back post off of a corner by TK Abderahman (Fort Mill, S.C.). Entertaining a 3-1 lead, the Cougar defense led by defender Leland Archer (Post of Spain, Trinidad) and senior goalkeeper Alex Young (Greenville, S.C.) took over and limited the Huskies to just five shots in the second half.
With wins over Winthrop and Northern Illinois, the Cougars were named champions of the Furman University Diadora/Spinx Tournament. Eli Dent, Leland Archer, Alex Young, and captain Nico Rittmeyer (Savannah, Ga.) were named to the All-Tournament team following the match.
Eli Dent leads CofC with five points through the first four games. He tallied the assist on Jacob Nelson's game-winner against Winthrop on Friday while netting his second goal of the season today.
Alex Young moves to 3-1 in goal after allowing only one goal and tallying his first shutout in 2015 over the weekend. Through the first four games, Young is allowing only 1.01 goals per game and has tallied 16 saves. Adan Noel and TK Abderahman notched their first assists of the season.
The Cougars will return to action against Furman at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept 11 at Patriots Point.
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