Miami Gardens, FL – The Webber International men's soccer team traveled down to the southernmost point of the country to challenge Sun Conference rival St. Thomas University. This southern battle got off to a quick start with the Bobcats scoring in the 9th minute to claim the early lead, and despite the Warriors best efforts throughout the match, they would be unable to overcome the early deficit and fall 2-0 to the Babcats down in Miami Gardens.
The Warriors came sprinting at the Bobcats following the opening whistle, beginning a wild first 10 minutes of the match. The Bobcats would record the first shot of the game from Guido Cacciabue, but it sailed high. They would go on to commit three straight fouls in a two-minute span, with a yellow card going to Joaquin Domber. Marco De Rosa would take the first chance on goal for the Warriors, but Bobcats keeper Rodrigo de la Terga was there to make the save. In the ninth minute the Bobcats would take the first swing, and it would be a major blow to the Warriors' chances of a road victory with Bouget Bouzis scoring the opening goal to give the Bobcats the early 1-0 lead. The Warriors would take three shots in the first half, forcing two saves from the Bobcats keeper with Jesus Solarbe taking the other shot on target for the Warriors in the opening 45 minutes of play.
The second half of action would tell a similar story to the first half with the Bobcats coming out hot out of the gates and forcing the Warriors keeper, Ben Parkinson, to make three of his eight total saves of the game in first seven minutes of the second half. The Warriors would only record two shots in the second half as the Bobcats defense was on lock down protecting their one goal lead. Vitor Andrade would take a shot that went high over the crossbar in the 56th minute for the
Warriors followed by the other shot of the second half from Jonathon Mindegaard that missed wide left of the post. There were several delays throughout the game, with the start of the game being delayed from lightning and another delay coming in the 86th minute as the Warriors put their last dashes of hope into an equalizer. Following the delay, the Bobcats would put the game to rest with a stunner from Cacciabue in the 89th minute to complete the shutout and keep the Bobcats perfect on the season, defeating the Warriors 2-0.
After the game, Head Coach Phillip Maestas Bohn was optimistic about his teams response in the second half.
"Tough result tonight against a very good team on the road. To concede so early on a bad goal against really didn't help our cause The boys kind of grew into the game in the second half and gave themselves a chance. Unfortunately just too many mistakes to beat a top team. The late goal in the final 90 seconds on a set piece deep in our defensive third after a 15 minute delay for the lights going out was really tough. Unfortunately we can't control the lights so we need to focus on defending without fouling. We now need to rest, recover, learn from this one and recharge for another big one Saturday night at Warner in the first leg of the crooked lake cup. Luciano Vera was our man of the match. He was quite dynamic on the ball specifically in the second half. Hes getting better each game and really has a high ceiling so it's exciting to see his improvements."
The Warriors will jump right back into action on Saturday evening traveling right across the pond to take on the Warner Royals at 7 PM in Lake Wales, FL.
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