The Ashland University men’s soccer team competed against the Ohio Dominican Panthers in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) at Ferguson Field on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
The Eagles dominated from start to finish en route to finding the team’s second win on the season, with both coming in non-conference play, as they piled on four goals. The contest was highlighted by two goals from forward Pedro Faria and a clean sheet from goalkeeper Ty Bowden in his first outing back from injury this season.
In the first half of play, the Eagles dominated as they mounted an early 2-0 lead.
Faria started the contest off hot, beating the opposing Panther defense on a one-on-one opportunity, placing the ball straight past Panther goalkeeper Cory Pulles in the 2nd minute.
Just seven minutes later, Faria found another goal, his second of the contest, as counterpart forward Rodri Fernandez passed the ball cleanly to him before finishing it into the back netting. His two goals within the first 10 minutes gave the Eagles early momentum.
The remainder of the first half would be marked by an impressive display on both halves of the field from the Eagles. Defensively, they allowed zero shots and just two corner kicks.
With the defense thriving, the offense did the same as they recorded 10 shots and one corner kick. Outside of the goals scored from Faria, they were unable to find any other goals in the first half.
The only other mark made in the first half came in the 41st minute when Pulles came out of his box and took down Faria, garnering an immediate red card, putting the Panthers down to just 10 men on the field.
The second half was marked by a similar storyline as the Eagles piled on two more goals and continued to produce an offensive tear that kept the Panthers back-peddling.
The goals would be scored by forward Vander Rocha in the 49th minute and Fernandez in the 55th minute. After those two were scored Eagle Head Coach Nick Roberts opted to bring in a lot of the depth pieces in his squad, with the likes of midfielder Alex James, midfielder Sebastian Matthews and others making appearances.
However, with roughly 24 minutes left in the contest and a thick layer of wet turf starting to form, Bowden went down for the Eagles, resulting in him having to leave the contest. In his place would come standout senior backup keeper, Zander Throckmorton who would keep the sheet clean for the Eagles.
The 4-0 affair would be the teams highest scoring contest of the season, and the second clean sheet.
The Eagles next look to take on the University of Findlay Oilers on Saturday, Sept. 30, with kickoff set for 1:00 p.m. on the road.
