DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's soccer team opened the 2006 campaign with a 2-0 win over Nova Southeastern on Sunday. The Eagles, ranked 10th in the nation in the NAIA preseason poll, did not disappoint the more than 1,200 fans who gathered to cheer them on, as goals from sophomore Joe Yoffe and Ian Thompson in the second half gave Eagles their first victory of 2006.
The Eagles enjoyed much of the possession in the first half, outdoing the Sharks 7-1 in shots and 4-2 in corner kick attempts. But both teams held their own defensively resulting in a scoreless tie at the half.
Yoffe, who was the Eagles' scoring leader with 15 goals last season, picked up where he left off, breaking the deadlock in the 80th minute. His goal was the result of a broken play after Thompson, who entered the game with 29 minutes remaining in the second half took the ball down the right side and played it into box. The ball bounced off a couple of defenders before falling to Yoffe who made good on his fourth attempt of the night with shot to the lower left corner of the goal.
Thompson started the play that resulted in the second goal with a long ball across the midfield to Peter Masters on the left side. Masters' left-footed cross skipped through the box back to Thompson, who buried a shot in the upper netting to seal the win
“It's nice to get the season off to a winning start and to get a clean sheet,” head coach David Gregson commented following the match. “The guys thoroughly deserved the win. We dominated the tempo of play in the second half and we got what we deserved out of the match.”
The Eagles make their first road trip of the season on Wednesday when they travel to Boca Raton to take on NCAA Division II opponent Lynn at 3 p.m.
