Babson Park, FL – The Webber International Men's Soccer team looked to continue their strong play following a tough well-earned victory last weekend against Warner. Wednesday afternoon brought different challenges for the Warriors squad as they faced the SCAD-Savannah Bees in Babson Park. The Warriors would strike first with a first half goal, but the Bees equalized before halftime and capitalized on few opportunities in the second half to defeat the Warriors 3-1 on a stormy afternoon of play.
In a game that saw a slow pace of play in the first half as both sides tried to feel the other out for gameplan and method of attack, there was a significant uptick in play as the game progressed. Ben Parkinson would record his first two saves of the game in the first twenty minutes as the Bees challenged the Warrior keeper in the 6th and 22nd minute. The Warriors would also get their chances at goal in the first part of the half with four shots of their own but all missing the net. The Warriors would make a set of three substitutions in the 32nd minute with Miguel De Silva being one of them coming in to play midfield. De Silva would prove to be a difference maker early on in his stint breaking the tie with a rebound shot that found the back of the net in the 38th minute to give the Warriors the early 1-0 lead. The action would only get more intense in the final eight minutes of the first half. The Bees would find their own rebound goal off a set piece in the 44th minute from just out the box from Michael O'Brien to even the score at 1-1. Just seconds later Mario Goic would take a shot from outside the box that hit off the post, the rebound shot from Tim Rothe would be blocked, and the follow up shot from Jake Murphy was saved by Parkinson. The Warriors would quickly go on the counterattack and Kazuki Ouo sent in an early cross to Jesus Solarbe that was tapped by Solarbe over the Bees keeper but ricocheted off the crossbar and out. The halftime whistle blew and concluded a wild end to the first 45 minutes.
The beginning of the second half felt much like the first with a slow pace of play with both sides not wanting to make any critical mistakes too early on. The Warriors would record the first six shots of the second half with shots from Gian Luca Fink that went wide in the 48th minute. Nelu Calcai in the 62nd, Rogridgo Catala in the 63rd and Luca Fink again in the 64th minute would all get shots on target, but would be saved by Connor Friel, the Bees keeper. The Warriors would then commit four straight fouls with a yellow card going out to Calcai before another shot wide from David Poledda. Two header shots in the 70th and 71st minute from the Warriors would be their next chances at net, but still unable to break the tie. After all the effort and chances at goal for the Warriors, the Bees once again saw a counter attack opportunity and a short ground pass across the goal from Raffael Mohr found striker Mortiz Prattes for the tap in goal in the 79th minute. The Bees would add on one more on a misplayed ball by the Warriors backline that allowed Mohr to put the finishing touches for a 3-1 victory over the Warriors.
After the game, Head Coach Phillip Maestas Bohn emphasized the importance of the game and how his team can respond to the result.
"Tough result at home, especially in a game that could go either way. To concede in the final five minutes of the first half and then two late goals at the end is really upsetting and ultimately not good enough if you want to beat a quality team like SCAD. I thought we had a lot of good moments and showed promise. We have a lot of work to do to put 90 solid minutes together so this was a good learning experience for us. Our man of the match was Dylan Hawley who had a very strong performance."
The Warriors will take a break from conference play to take on Florida College on Saturday evening in Temple Terrace, Florida at 7:00 PM.
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