BABSON PARK, Fla. (September 29, 2018) – Down 2-0 25 minutes into the contest, the Warriors and forward
Baxter Smith mounted a comeback with two goals in a seven-minute span to tie the match, but it would be all for naught as the Webber International University men's soccer team fell to Warner University 3-2 on Saturday morning.
It was the second one-goal defeat of the season for Webber (4-4-2 overall, 1-3-1 The Sun Conference) against its rival from across Crooked Lake. In fact, each of the Warriors four wins and four defeats so far in 2018 have come by only one goal. Warner improved to 9-3 overall and 3-2 in The Sun Conference.
The goals for Smith were his ninth and 10th of the season in only nine matches, and were good for his third multi-goal match of the year.
The first goal by Smith came in the 36th minute off an assist by
Ervin Ikanovic; and then in the 43rd minute,
Kaleb Kelly found Smith with a pass through the box as Smith finished in the upper corner of the goal to tie the match at two goals apiece and give the Warriors new life.
Webber outshot Warner 10-7 in the opening 45 minutes with an extremely high 15 corner kicks, but that script changed in the second half as the Royals won the shot battle 7-4 and kept the Warrior offense from being able to string together long possessions.
After three saves by goalkeeper
Thomas Debladis in the first 12 minutes of the second half and missed shots on goal by Ikanovic,
MacKinley Burns and
Enzo Di Benedetto, Warner would net the winning goal in the 74th minute.
From there, Webber would try to answer, but was unable to get another shot attempt until the final minute when Di Benedetto fired a laser from way outside the box that was just tipped away by the Royals' keeper Angelo Neto. Next, a corner kick by
Orian Burzic with 30 seconds left looked good but fell harmlessly through the box to the foot of a Warner defender before being cleared away.
Both Debladis and Neto would finish with six saves, three in each half. Debladis has saved at least five shots in all nine of Webber's matches in 2018.
Leading Webber in shots was Di Benedetto with four, two on goal; Smith with three, all of which were on goal; Ikanovic with two and Meija with two.
Webber will continue its three-match home stand by hosting Ave Maria University at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 3, followed by No. 24 Southeastern University at 3 p.m. a week later on Wednesday October 10.
