Babson Park, FL – The Webber International Men's Soccer team played their most physical match of the season on Wednesday afternoon facing off with the Florida National Conquistadors. The Warriors would see two early goals, but after some physical altercations starting at halftime, the game got away from both squads and would decide the match as such. It would be the definition of a back-and-forth match with scoring going both ways and ultimately ending how it started, in a tie, 3-3.
The story of the match was twofold, fouls/ejections and goals that swung the momentum of the match. The Warriors would light up the scoreboard first and second in the first half. Miguel de Silva would get the Warriors rolling with a goal, assisted by Dylan Hawley in the 12th minute to put the Warriors up 1-0. The other story line would start in the 13th minute with Lucianno Vera picking up the games first of 10 yellow cards. Jesus Perez would get the game back in the scoring flow in the 17th minute, getting a shot towards net that took a deflection off a defender and found the back of the net to increase the early Warrior lead to 2-0. Conquistadors' midfielder Jose Luis Hurtado would pick up his first yellow card in the 22nd minute, which subsequently led his team to score two straight goals in eight minutes of play. The score being level at 2-2 led into halftime, but a physical altercation after the halftime whistle blew led to more cards being handed out. Hurtado for the Conquistadors would earn his second yellow, resulting in a red card, and Hawley was shown straight red to send both players off and lead both teams into the second half playing only 10 men.
The Warriors would shift the momentum back in their favor out of halftime. The Warriors would earn a penalty kick after a Conquistadors foul inside their own box. Vera, playing on a yellow
card, stepped up to the spot like he did in Monday's match for the Warriors, and delivered again, putting the Warriors ahead 3-2 in the 49th minute. A litany of yellow cards would follow in the match with all the following players picking up yellow cards from the 59th to 75th minute. David Gomez and Rafael Cagnin, for the Warriors and Mateo Mantchoff and Geronimo Luna Grebe, for the Conquistadors. In the 76th minute, the Conquistadors swung the game back their way, with an equalizing goal from Marcos Bakale to tie the match at 3-3. Both squads would see another player sent off from a second yellow card, resulting in red cards, Luna Grebe for the Conquistadors, and Vera for the Warriors in the final 10 minutes of action, but no other goals would be scored resulting in a 3-3 draw in Babson Park.
The Warriors will host their final home regular season match on Sunday, October 27th, at 2:00 PM against the St. Thomas Bobcats in Babson Park, FL.
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