Babson Park, FL- The Webber International Men's Soccer team opened up SUN Conference play against the Florida Memorial Lions on Saturday afternoon at the Warrior Grass Field. After being down 1-0 at the half, the Warriors scored three goals in the second half to win the game with a commanding score of 3-1.
Ben Parkinson started in goal for the Warriors, but wasn't tested very much early in the game. David Poledda took the first shot of the game in the second minute, but it was blocked by a Lion defender. Jonathan Mindegaard, Gian Luca Fink, and Lucianno Vera all took shots over the next 13 minutes, but none were able to find paydirt, Mindegaard and Vera's shots being saved. In the 26th minute, the Lions were able to get one past Parkinson to take a 1-0 lead. The rest of the half was uneventful as neither team attempted a shot on goal, as the game went into halftime with Florida Memorial up 1-0.
Parkinson made a save in the 49th minute, resulting in a FMU corner that went nowhere. A header from David Gomez in the 61st minute was saved by the goalie, but Mindegaard was able to put the ball in the back of the net in the 65th minute after a shot from Vitor Andrade rebounded to him, tying the game at 1-1. The Warriors put their feet on the gas after that, as 50 seconds later, Jesus Solarbe found the back of the net, off of another deflection, giving Webber the lead, 2-1. Parkinson had another save before a beautiful Warrior counter attack had Vera race down the field off of passes from Nelu Calcai and Solarbe, and squeak one past the goalie, to give Webber a 3-1 lead in the 78th minute. A few more shots were taken by both teams, but none were on goal as the final horn blew on the Warriors conference opening victory at 3-1.
After the game, Head Coach Phillip Maestas Bohn emphasized the importance of an early conference victory, and how his team responded to adversity.
"It was really big to get that first conference win today and the first overall win under our belt. I thought we started out pretty good establish good control and possession of the ball and then unfortunately after conceding in the first half of the game kind of got away from us for the rest of the half. Some second-half subs really smart, giving us the two goals in a very short amount of time. A lot of good things came from today's game and some areas that we definitely need to continue to improve. With four games in eight days, it was important to get that first win today. Jesus Solarbe was our man of thematch with one goal one assist."
The Warriors will be back in action on Monday, September 16th when they travel to Jacksonville to take on the Trinity Baptist Eagles at 2:00 P.M.
For the latest and most up-to-date information on Warrior Athletics. Please visit www.webberathletics.com. Follow us on Twitter- @WebberAthletics, Instagram- @Webber_Athletics, and Facebook by searching Webber International University Athletics.
